Ben Apfelbaum

THE ART OF BANKSY – THE UNAUTHORISED PRIVATE COLLECTION

Steve Lazaridies in his introduction to the exhibition  said, “This show constitutes an overview of Banksy’s canon of work, mainly from the years 2000 to 2011. It has canvases, screen prints and collaborations. None of the works have been taken from the street and all have come from collectors who purchased them or were gifted the work at some point. Additionally I have included images from my photography archive that was amassed during my years of working with him from 1997 until 2008, when as well as all my other duties I was the documenter of his street pieces.”

After Banksy parted ways with Lazaridies in 2008 his meteoric rise continued. Career highlights include the Oscar nominated documentary ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop – Banksy versus Bristol Museum’ and ‘The Walled Off Hotel on the West Bank’.

The Art Of Banksy showcases 80 original works which have already been seen to much enthusiasm in Tel Aviv, Auckland, Toronto, Miami and Melbourne. Highlights of the exhibition include ‘Girl With Red Balloon’, ‘Flower Thrower’ and ‘Rude Copper’.

Later in his career he collaborated with recording artist Blur and with Wall Of Sound Records.

Despite his long career and large body of work he has never been seen. As Banksy himself said, “Nobody ever listened until they didn’t know who I was.” Although his graffiti influenced stencil technique often combined with anti- society slogans it is often leavened with humour and irony to make the message more accessible and palatable.

Banksy has said that the way he gets his ideas is,  “to think outside the box, collapse the box and take a sharp fucking knife it…Mindless vandalism can take a bit of thought. ”

Banksy has also been a but of a prankster. On one occasion he defaced a batch of ten pound notes and whilst drunk threw them about at the Notting Hill markets. He also organised a bunch of people to shoplift Paris Hilton  CDs  and then returned them with his CD in their place.

Featured image: Steve Lazaridies  in front of Banksy’s work ‘Love Is In The Air’. All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.