Artist Banksy invites robbing a Guess store which diverts his work

Since the 1990s Banksy has been painting stencil illustrations on the streets of the world, mixing poetry and politics to express often anti-capitalist messages. It would therefore have been rather surprising that this Street artistThe anonymous accepts a collaboration with a fashion brand such as Guess. But this is what he tried to make the Californian brand believe in one of its London stores.

Banksy calls to rob Guess who resumes his job without his authorization

In the famous shopping street that is Regent Street, dresses with bows and illustrations inspired by Banksy are displayed in the window. In the background, we could also see a copy of the Flower Launcher’s Street artist. The brand presented the collection as a collaboration between Guess x Brandalised with Banksy graffiti. Brandalised is a licensing company dedicated to creating products derived from graffiti,” by the fans, for the fans as he states on his site.

But the artist Banksy himself doesn’t see it that way, since he posted on November 18, 2022 on his Instagram account followed by more than 11 million people:

“Beware all shoplifters. Please go to the Guess store on Regent Street. Since they used my designs without asking, how could it be unfair for you to do the same with their clothes? »

Brandalised’s shaky defense hijacking old Banksy remarks

While Guess hasn’t reacted publicly, Brandalised has been posting old Banksy quotes on Instagram as blessings for the commercial exploitation of his work without asking his permission:

“The thing is, I’ve been a smuggler for three years, so I’m no longer principled. — Banksy.

Whateverthe pub the graffiti in the public space that you are forced to see belongs to you. You can take it, rearrange it and reuse it. Asking permission would be like asking to have a pebble thrown in your face. — Banksy. »

But this comparison with Banksy was about advertising imposed in public space, not graffiti to begin with. On the other hand, there was also no mention of appropriation, diversion and reuse for commercial purposes. So to see Brandalised today taking this old quote out of context to try and make people believe it could serve as collateral for their partnership with Guess sounds particularly ironic and completely against Banksy’s sense of anti-capitalist work. A bit like when Shein launched a capsule collection with the image of Frida Kahlo, for example. Indeed, it seems more and more fashionable to completely divert an artist’s values ​​to try to bring an extra soul to clothes that are completely devoid of them…

Front page photo credit: screenshot of Banksy on Instagram.