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This visual analysis is a graffiti art by an artist known as Banksy. It would seem that this piece is representing that either an economic or political change that is needed in order to make society function better. Emotionally, people should be drawn to the aloneness of the person sitting on what seems to ground, with a wall behind them.The sign in the image is the focal point with it’s white background and wordage shouting to it’s viewers, I WANT CHANGE. The person in the painting appears to be a man, but you can’t tell positively because the face is shaded, and the hair is covered. The cup in front of the person, also white, helps to relay what the picture is asking for.
As well as the person, I notice what seems to be ground that looks as though it might have some remanents of hard concrete mixed in. The background is bold with it’s varying deep shades of red. Some places on the background are lighter as though there might be light shining from the right side.. The top left, and bottom, are darker than the right bottom and top. The bricks on the wall look to be very old, as if the building was built well before the person sitting there was ever born.
This image appears to be of someone we would consider homeless, with a blanket wrapped around them, and a toboggan which would indicate that they are cold. They are holding up a sign that states, “Keep your coins, I WANT CHANGE.”
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Banksy was not the original creator of this graffiti, but he certainly was the one who made it famous. An artist by the name of Meek is the original owner of this work in this analysis. Meek’s work as a grffiti artist started in 2003 in Australia where he was born and raised (Meek ‘street artist’). He so admired the work of Banksy, that when he moved to London for a short while, he started emulating Banksy’s stencil art. Unlike Banksy, he loved having his name attached to his graffiti, posting it everywhere. Meeks work was presented into the Australian Museum of Art in 2007 (National Gallery of Australia).
Meeks piece I am analyzing, is similar in likeness to Banksy’s work, but different when comparing the two in contrast and color. When both pieces of work are looked at together, it’s understandable why the Banksy piece was noticed more and ultimately noted for being the original work. The vivid colors and the bold red background catches the eye and draws you in. The wall behind the subject, gave more distinction overall to the work. The original painting that Meek created, used very little color leaving his work bland by comparison. Meek used black, white and gray paints with a bit of red for the letters and that was primarily it.
Many street artist’s work is satirical in nature. These artists make us think and they make us discuss things. For the most part, they challenge society to think about issues that normally would just be swept under the rug. Most of Banksy’s work is street art that deals with moral, economic or political issues. His true identity is still unknown, but some believe him to be an artist in London by the name of Robin Gunningham, others think that his name is Robert Banks. Banksy was born in 1978 in Bristol, London (Meek ‘street artist’).
There was not a date that could be found saying exactly when the Banksy did this piece exhibited in my analysis.There did not seem to be any specific agenda preceeding the artists design of the wall other than to bring awareness to the general public that changes need to be made.
Graffiti is an amazing work of art that is presented on any manor of wall, vehicle, street, boxcars, anywhere that an artist can get to and use their abilities. Most graffiti will encompass using spray paint and in recent years, stencil layers are in use to keep the time factors low for the artist.
We could argue the technical quality, since that we aren’t in front of the original, but when researching these pieces, every source I visited seemed to be consistant with the painting itself.
I noticed that some of the artist’s shops had taken the liberty to change the color variances. Some making the brick in the background a brown, some making it lighter and others leaving the piece like what I have scribed as the original.
The purpose of the work by both artists I believe to be cohesive with the message that they were trying to portrait.. Even though the pieces were painted differently, the same message is understood by the viewer. That message is to bring up an awareness that change is needed. Whatever the underlying cause for this piece of art, the artists both believed in it enough to paint it. We could argue that the author of this work wanted economic change, we could also argue that their campagne was to influence the political realm with the message presented. My beliefs are that they were displaying both and much more.
This work could have been created differently if the artists wanted to make a more specific idea come to life such as, if economy was the issue, the person in the painting could have been located on Wall Street holding the sign up as stock workers go into the exchange. Politically, again, the background could be changed to the nations capital. But yet, this artist chose to place the person in front of a boldly red colored wall, with nothing around them except ground, a sign and a cup.
For a few years now, my passion for graffiti has grown. Banksy had come across my path on many occasions with other pieces he had done, but I had never tied in this particular piece of work with the original owner, Meek. So, today, I have learned something new. Like probably so many others, I was drawn to this work for many reasons, but the main focus was the bold colors along with the message that the person was holding up. My take away from this piece is that money can’t always buy everything. There are some things in life more precious than the coins we collect. Sometimes, we need to do what’s right and stand up for what we believe in.
The original audience for this art, likely will be the same., anyone who is willing to stand up and make a change in humanity. It means to me, that we can change something in our lives on a constant basis to make us and the world a better place.
This painting best serves all of us in the world who need and want to be a change maker. I can see many things in this artwork. Maybe the wall behind the figure is telling us that we need to stop building walls because of their coldness and make a change. Maybe the artist believes by painting a red wall that it will resemble our lifes blood, so,maybe they are asking us to make a change by not killing.
I could see this art getting under the skin of die hard people who think that no changes could be made, that enough has been done already.The close minded, the racial,and the extreme radical would all probably get annoyed with this work in some way.
My thought on the reason that the artist picked this particular subject to share is that there are so few people willing to sacrifice and stand up for what they know to be right and ultimately believe in order to make changes that need to happen. The artist might have been thinking that a person who looked homeless, would be less intimidating to the public eye.
This art says an abundance about the artist as a person. They have strong beliefs and principles and believe that through their work, they themselves can make a change. Awareness and knowledge is so powerful and that’s what many artists graffiti brings to life for us. They make us acknowledge what we choose to hide.
The first time I saw “Keep your coins, I WANT CHANGE” I was overwhelmed.” I loved the work immediately, and began focusing my attention onto the boldness of the background and the words within the sign. With graffiti, the intended audience is usually everyone. Not everyone will understand the meaningthat the artist is trying to portray, and that’s ok. Even if the message is not clear, you still benefit from the beautiful colors of the work itself.
People who do not appreciate street art will certainly believe it’s a waste of time and of taxpayers money to clean up. Whether it’s labeled graffiti, street art, expressive, or any of the other number of genre’s, street art should remain an important part of our society. This type of expressive art is good on so many levels. Even for those who seemingly don’t like it. It makes us smile, talk, think and just maybe it makes us do something.
If by now, you haven’t discovered that I adore this piece of graffiti from Banksy, then let me say it once more, this piece of work is fantastic. I want this piece in my home to help me to remember that I can be that change in the world.
Worked Citations
- Bell, Grace/ Elizabeth. “Banksy – ‘Keep Your Coins, I Want Change.’.” Design Dialogue, 7 Apr. 2017, wordpress57027.wordpress.com/2017/04/07/banksy-keep-your-coins-i-want-change/.
- National Gallery of Australia. “Meek.” SPACE INVADERS -, nga.gov.au/exhibition/spaceinvaders/default.cfm?IRN=162193&BioArtistIRN=33679&MnuID=4&GALID=33679&viewID=3&DTLVIEW=TRUE
- Mancoff, Debra N. Banksy, British Graffiti Artist. Encyclopedia Britannica, Updated: 17oct, 2019
- Meek(street artist) https://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/4589934, Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, 21nov, 2019
