A Visual Protest: The Art of Banksy

　　史上最神秘的英國知名街頭塗鴉藝術家班克西(Banksy)最重要的全新作品集!

　　收錄班克西街頭藝術初始至今超過80個作品。班克西行蹤隱密，至今無人知道他是誰，作風大膽，當場自毀得標畫作，舉世譁然，卻非常的班克西。作為街頭藝術，充滿實驗性質的藝術行動，大玩顛覆想象，充滿諷刺與關心底層聲音的主張。透過街邊的塗鴉，橋邊的畸零地，與頹敗的建築，讓世人看見荒謬的世界。

　　本書有條理地分析班克西的藝術歷程，從早期的六八年巴黎五月大罷工(May 1968)到藝術史上情境主義與先鋒派的影響。深度剖析著名作品，如愛在空氣中(Love is in the Air)、著名的蠟紙塗鴉與美國攝影、硫磺島上的旗幟(Flag at Iow Jima) 、以及地盤戰爭(Turf War)中頂著藻綠色龐克頭的邱吉爾。還有那些街邊老鼠、饒舌歌手與小提琴家，紛紛入畫。

　　班克西持續挑戰政治強權、經濟不均與種族壓迫的話題，這本作品集讓我們看到藝術家如何說出許多人心底的聲音，無疑是現今社會最即時的寫照。

　　This major new book on the art of Banksy spans the entire career of the world's most famous anonymous street artist.

　　Decades before he blew the lid off the high-stakes art world by shredding a work immediately following its purchase at an auction, Banksy was committing acts of artistic protest on the streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. We still don't know who Banksy is, but thanks to this book we have a greater sense of how he works. This book features approximately eighty works from the start of his street art career to today, most photographed in situ and presented in vibrant illustrations. This book guides readers through Banksy's artistic processes and explains his influences, such as the Situationism movement and the May 1968 uprising in Paris. It delves into key works such as Love Is in the Air, a stenciled graffiti that subverts the idea of violent protest; Flag, in which the iconic American photograph at Iwo Jima is altered to reflect a group of Harlem children atop a burnt-out car; and the slyly titled Turf War, in which Winston Churchill sports a grassy Mohawk. The book also pays tribute to Banksy's rats, a reviled symbol of urban decay that the artist reimagines as rappers, violin players, and painters. As Banksy continues to challenge the political, economic, and racial oppression that takes place every day in cities around the world, this book offers a timely appreciation of just how the artist has embedded himself into the psyche of the powerful as well as the voiceless--without ever revealing his own identity.

GIANNI MERCURIO is a curator specializing in American art. He has published numerous books and exhibition catalogs on artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Segal, and Roy Lichtenstein, and on the topics of Pop-Art, Hyperrealism, and Graffiti. He lives in Rome, Italy.