From 10th of August until 1st of September, 2007, in London the first exhibition anywhere, of over 40 mixed media works by Banksy and Andy Warhol. The showcase website: http://www.warholvsbanksy.com/
“Warhol created some iconic works about the culture of his generation and Banksy is in the process of doing exactly the same thing,” said Duncan Cargill, creative director at The Hospital, the London gallery showing “Warhol vs Banksy” in an interview to Reuters. “Both are achieving exactly the same thing,” Cargill said. “The fact that Banksy is quite determined to remain anonymous as his career grows has become a much more important part of his fame than if he was promoting his own personality. “Warhol did just that and that became the thing that made him famous.” (read the full article)
And here’s a recent comment about Banksy and Warhol at large by The Guardian Art Critic Jonathan Jones
If Andy Warhol were alive today he’d probably welcome Banksy to the New York art scene just as he befriended those 80s street artists. “Gee, wow, Banksy’s this English artist but nobody knows what he looks like. In the future everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes.”
That’s the sort thing Warhol might say if he was still here. To quote another guru of modern culture, the medium is the message: what you do is less important than how you transmit it. If you make street art you instantly, by that act, proclaim so many hip affinities that your art becomes a symbol of widely admired associations and meanings. All graffiti is cool. The form, not the content, defines that coolness. Calling out Banksy as a bad artist is therefore impossible. If you say he’s crap, he will turn out to be in on the joke. He’s the perfect fraud for our time. (Full Post)