But there’s no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We’re not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it’s hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.
BANKSY
BANKSY
Banksy on self
Banksy115 quotes“But there’s no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We’re not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it’s hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.”
More from Banksy
Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.
BanksyBanksy Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.
BanksyBanksy Writing graffiti is about the most honest way you can be an artist. It takes no money to do it, you don’t need an education to understand it, and there’s no admission fee.
BanksyBanksy A wall is a very big weapon. It’s one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.
BanksyBanksy In the future, everybody will be anonymous for 15 minutes.
BanksyBanksy We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.
BanksyBanksy I’d been painting rats for three years before someone said ‘that’s clever it’s an anagram of art’ and I had to pretend I’d known that all along.
BanksyBanksy I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don’t do that so much anymore.
BanksyBanksy People seem to think if they dress like a revolutionary they don`t actually have to behave like one.
BanksyBanksy I don’t know if street art ever really works indoors. If you domesticate an animal, it goes from being wild and free to sterile, fat and sleepy. So maybe the art should stay outside.
BanksyBanksy If you want someone to be ignored then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town. It doesn’t matter how great you were, it’ll always take an unfunny drunk with climbing skills to make people notice you.
BanksyBanksy You’re mind is working at its best when you’re being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity.
BanksyBanksy Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s okay. You’re here to live your life, not to make everyone understand.
BanksyBanksy Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.
BanksyBanksy I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something.
BanksyBanksy Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.
BanksyBanksy
Original quotes
From our community writers
My heart keeps room for you always even when you can’t be here.
Holly DuxburyHolly Duxbury You are seeing humanity at its worst and best. A collision of the circumstance.
Samantha King HolmesSamantha King Holmes Treat her like a dream. Follow her, pursue her, and always remind her that you’ll never give up on her.
Jenny AJenny A I care but I’m done trying. I love but I’m done showing.
Divya khandalDivya khandal Never feel defined by your size, measures, and beauty standards.
Jacklyn TysonJacklyn Tyson The wild is always changing like a reminder. You do not have to be the same to be beautiful.
Sabina LauraSabina Laura Bees and butterflies in my belly with you on my mind they chase each other around.
Jenny WinbladhJenny Winbladh I long for you but you long for someone else, I deny the one who wants me cause I want someone else.
Rupi KaurRupi Kaur
Meet the writers
More on self
Manipulated by fashion, self-serving art scholars and the vagaries of the auction block.
Abe AjayAbe Ajay When time and space and change converge, we find place. We arrive in Place when we resolve things.
Abdullah IbrahimAbdullah Ibrahim Do not become the candle that gives light to others but itself remains in darkness.
Abdul Qadir GilaniAbdul Qadir Gilani To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will vanish.
Abdu'l-BahaAbdu'l-Baha The pure heart is one that is entirely cut away from self. To be selfless is to be pure.
Abdu'l-BahaAbdu'l-Baha What I would like you always to do is what I try humbly to do myself, that is, never to say or to do anything which would wound the feelings or the self-respect of any human being
Abby Aldrich RockefellerAbby Aldrich Rockefeller Luckily, I’s learned at an early age that self-preservation was the only way to survive with your soul intact.
Abbi GlinesAbbi Glines American ladies are known abroad for two distinguishing traits (besides, possibly, their beauty and self-reliance), and these are their ill-health and their extravagant devotion to dress.
Abba Goold WoolsonAbba Goold Woolson