Sponsored link
Monday, February 10, 2025

Sponsored link

A project almost nobody wants is going forward in the Mission, thanks to Yimbys

60 low-tenants displaced by fire (one dead); now landlord gets to build luxury condos—only because of Wiener and his allies in Sacramento.

Full board will hear Lurie’s attempt to fire pro-reform police commissioner

Mandelman calls for Committee of the Whole to consider whether to allow the mayor to oust Max Carter Oberstone

Drama Masks: Voices of incarcerated women take center stage at YBCA

Art exhibit 'The Only Door I Can Open' and Flyaway Productions' 'I Give You My Sorrows' speak out for prisoners' rights.

Inside the pervasive news media bias in the Berkeley mayoral election

Missing context, misleading stories helped boost longshot Adena Ishii into the city's top office.

As SF posts up for NBA All-Star Weekend, brush up on classic Bay Area ballers

Remembering the 'East Bay Funk Dunk,' Rick Barry's 1967 MVP, booing Chris Cohan, more iconic moments.

Why is SF’s NBA All-Star Weekend musical lineup so meh?

Flo Rida and The Chainsmokers? Give us E-40, give us Kehlani, give us Larry June—not this random mash-up.

ODC School dance classes are for everybody!

Choose from an electrifying range of classes from the Best of the Bay winner—your first class is only $12!

Win tickets to Indiefest closing night film ‘Timestalker’

We've got 10 pairs of tickets to Brit comic Alice Lowe's hilarious time-traveling romp. Here's how to enter

Arts Forecast: New folk opera swoops in on tale of Fruitvale falcons

Flight Lessons' scores a peregrine pair. Plus: Dilla Day, M Lamar, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Poolside, Bedouin, more to do

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Inside the pervasive news media bias in the Berkeley mayoral election

Missing context, misleading stories helped boost longshot Adena Ishii into the city's top office.

As SF posts up for NBA All-Star Weekend, brush up on classic Bay Area ballers

Remembering the 'East Bay Funk Dunk,' Rick Barry's 1967 MVP, booing Chris Cohan, more iconic moments.

News

Arts

Full board will hear Lurie’s attempt to fire pro-reform police commissioner

Mandelman calls for Committee of the Whole to consider whether to allow the mayor to oust Max Carter Oberstone

Drama Masks: Voices of incarcerated women take center stage at YBCA

Art exhibit 'The Only Door I Can Open' and Flyaway Productions' 'I Give You My Sorrows' speak out for prisoners' rights.

Inside the pervasive news media bias in the Berkeley mayoral election

Missing context, misleading stories helped boost longshot Adena Ishii into the city's top office.

As SF posts up for NBA All-Star Weekend, brush up on classic Bay Area ballers

Remembering the 'East Bay Funk Dunk,' Rick Barry's 1967 MVP, booing Chris Cohan, more iconic moments.

Why is SF’s NBA All-Star Weekend musical lineup so meh?

Flo Rida and The Chainsmokers? Give us E-40, give us Kehlani, give us Larry June—not this random mash-up.

ODC School dance classes are for everybody!

Choose from an electrifying range of classes from the Best of the Bay winner—your first class is only $12!

Category

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'

Category

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'

Category

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'

Category

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'

Category

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'
Sponsored link

Opinion

All the worst people in the world

How we survived the stifling political atmosphere of the 1980s, and what it means as we enter another dark age.

Letters to the editor: What is the city getting by allowing housing demolitions?

Project by project, existing housing is destroyed for new high-priced units. Is this the way to solve the housing crisis?

Trump’s absurdist ‘Pere Ubu’ moment

Playwright Alfred Jarry's indelible 1896 theatrical tyrant pointed the way to our felon president—and his load of 'merdre.'

Malibu, fires, and the mandate for endless growth

In a climate crisis, is it really a good idea to build more and denser housing in high-severity fire zones?

OPINION: An open letter to three new supervisors with a few questions

Can a concerned resident pin down Sherrill, Mahmood, and Sauter on some issues they haven't talked much about?

Dear Elon: Maybe you need a new place when Trump and Congress are done with you

Is there a ceiling on Trump's debt to you? You could always open a store in Union Square.

Opinion: The Cuban healthcare system and its lessons for the US

Single payer, medical missions, and the US campaign of disinformation
Sponsored link
Sponsored link
Sponsored link
Arts + CultureArtReview: 'The Art of Banksy' is pure bourgeois comfort...

Review: ‘The Art of Banksy’ is pure bourgeois comfort food

Come for the promise of political provocation—stay for a 'Kissing Coppers' cocktail?

Before entering The Art of Banksy (Unauthorized Private Collection),” one sees the show’s intentions and intended audience. Outside, much of the affluent (and mostly white) crowd didn’t seem to care for things like masking and social distancing. They only adopted the former when they went inside—mind you, they never got the go-ahead to walk in, they just decided it was time. I was one of the few who prepared my ID and vaccine cards.

As I checked my bag and began going through a considerably-more-thorough metal wand check, a couple behind me kvetched about a friend wanting to move from the Bay Area because of “the ridiculous California taxes,” only for said friend to realize those same taxes exist in her intended destination of Los Angeles. The couple cheered upon mentioning that said friend would be joining them for an upcoming trip to Hawai’i. After checking in at the press desk, I went to another where I was given an audio tour guide and was escorted into the exhibit itself.

Both during and after all of the above, I kept thinking, “I wish Banksy would crash this thing.” The exhibit is pure class warfare through capitalist commodification; a chance for the 1% to experience an “edgy” artist whose entire aesthetic is based around how much he despises the 1%. It’s a privately-owned showcase meant to prove that art is just decoration, not personal or political expression.

This is made most clear through the narration of the audio tour guide. In fairness, both the audio guide and text accompanying each piece give historical context to the artist and his work, providing a thorough timeline from his traditional graffiti origins to his current global recognition. But the narration and text are dry descriptions of the work divorced of social-political inspiration and context. Every thing is shown uncensored, but regarded as “just something Banksy did this one time.”

From the ‘Art of Banksy’ website

Imagine an exhibit based around MLK in which he was described as “someone well-known who went to Washington one time—he got a great view of the Mall.” Sadly, we don’t have to imagine conservative revisionism of MLK’s true intentions. So too is Banksy here presented, not as the guy who snuck into a Disneyland attraction to protest Guantanamo Bay, but as the guy who did those famous stencils on the sides of buildings.

Which isn’t to say one leaves the exhibit without an appreciation for art and artist. As a longtime admirer, it was intriguing to get within inches of prints of Pulp Fiction (replacing the guns with bananas), several different versions of Girl with Balloon, and a print of Stop and Search. We see an actual copy of his parody of Paris Hilton’s album alongside £10 notes with Princess Di’s face replacing Queen Elizabeth. His album covers for Blur are given the same prominence as his film Exit Through the Gift Shop. Somehow I’d never before seen Banksquiat, his tribute to one of my favorite artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat.

But it’s all pageantry. One piece of text on the wall is a Banksy quote about the necessity of art to make one uncomfortable, yet this show is designed to do the exact opposite: the very ones who should be made uncomfortable by this damning critique of their excess consumerism have merely diluted it into something else to be consumed. If that isn’t made clear during the time it takes you talk through the full exhibit, it definitely will be at the end when you encounter a sign pointing out “Exit and the gift shop.”

There, one can buy as many frowning chimp coffee mugs as one wishes before heading past the VIP section to the bar, where themed cocktails like “The Flower Thrower” and “Kissing Coppers” are sold. It’s also where one picks up a bag of popcorn shaped like the red balloon from the famous piece.

From the ‘Art of Banksy’ website

As I left past more unmasked patrons entering for the next viewing, I walked through The Presidio, unable to recall the last time I’d been there at night. I waited for the 45 Stockton, pulled out my earphones, and was struck by the sound of owls in the trees. I was born and raised in The City, but don’t think I’ve seen or heard an owl in the trees outside of the SF Zoo. It was a refreshing moment of being aware of the world in which one inhabits.

As you might guess, I couldn’t help but contrast this with the farce I’d witnessed just minutes earlier. It’s why I spent the entire time wishing the real Banksy would show up, angry as hell and ready to personally destroy this appropriation of his work as easily as he’s destroyed the official copies of his work. But given how even destroyed copies sell for millions, it likely would have made the shown work all the more valuable. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past this show’s creators to “destroy” the work over and over like an animatronic Disney character.

“The Art of Banksy” is exactly what you think it is: shameless pandering to wealthy white consumers who refuse to recognize the damage they’re causing the world, even when they pay to have that damage satirically shown to them. The show is as lacking in self-awareness as it is lacking in art appreciation. If one is desperate to see Banksy works through a morally dubious format, one can just follow the real guy on Instagram.

“The Art of Banksy (Unauthorized Private Collection)” runs though February 27 at the Palace of Fine Arts. More info here.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Charles Lewis III
Charles Lewis III
Charles Lewis III is a San Francisco-born journalist, theatre artist, and arts critic. You can find dodgy evidence of this at thethinkingmansidiot.wordpress.com

Sponsored link

Sponsored link
Sponsored link

Featured

Two housing measures would give massive breaks to private developers

Plus: How is Mayor Lurie going to fund Muni? That's The Agenda for Feb. 9-16

Trump’s attacks on trans people and public health escalate into a war on reality itself

Administration moves to purge scientific facts, stifle essential research, and erase entire populations.

Juanita More’s Loads of Love party is a Valentine for heavy times

The drag goddess's huge, free V-Day affair shows off the talents of 'our big, amazing, talented, beautiful, powerful family.'

More by this author

Drama Masks: Two nights at the Ballet, one hot and one cold

Weathering scoffs and tiffs at SF Ballet's Opening Night extravaganza, soaking in the provocative joys of 'Manon'

Drama Masks: Getting ready for the backwards slide

As the government and major corporations ax DEI initiatives with abandon, will local theatre soon follow suit?

Drama Masks: 2025 kicks off with trans visibility center-stage

Glamorous 'Some Like It Hot' dances up historical inclusion; 'Dragcula' foregrounds the ultimate weapon: joy.

You might also likeRELATED