Banksy is the name used to hide the identity of a graffiti artist from the UK in order to protect him from the any repercussions which might come from his work. Banksy became famous through using his stencilling technique to take on governments around the world using his art as a form of communicating to them. The imaginative and original way which Banksy spoke out against the establishment earned the artists huge press coverage and interest from politicians and celebrities around the world.

Because of Banksy rising to fame so quickly and the artist’s work being so commonly in the spotlight, it has caused some people to question the artist’s credibility. Some people have even labelled Banksy as a sell-out because they feel some of his work now lacks the positive intent that his earlier work did.

A lot of Banksy’s pieces have now started to sell at auctions for huge sums of money and this is one of the reasons that his credibility has come into question. The artist is well-known now by celebrities from all around the world and many of them are buying up any piece of his work which they can. This has led people to say that Banksy is creating art for profit now and not to provoke a change anymore. Banksy started out as artist very much on the wrong side of the law, creating graffiti on buildings and sneaking his own work into elite museums, more recently he has started organising exhibits though much like most other artists.

Further criticism came Banksy’s way when the hit film ‘Exit through the gift shop’ was released. For an artist who did the utmost to keep his identity hidden, this was a very risky thing to do and despite hiding his identity still, the artist revealed a lot of information on how he performs his work. A lot of people didn’t see the positive side of the film and saw it as Banksy further trying to increase his fame.

The argument for Banksy is that the artist still produces the same street art that he always has and if he has expanded his type of work that is purely his choice. Whether or not Banksy has profited from his art is irrelevant as the artist still produces work with good intentions and if the artist does make money from that art, it comes as a secondary benefit.