EEVblog #1136 - Banksy Artwork Shredder - Part 2 (Still Trolling!)

[EEVblog]

Banksy posted an update video showing more of the prank build and the shredding mechanism. But he's still trolling us!

[max_torque]

I can think of one possible explanation for the "exacto blades" tyre arrangement originally shown.

Banksy is a street artist, a guy who is self made and who likes to do hands-on art, so perhaps he did start with a completely self made shredder?  He probably wouldn't initially have access to, or the direct resources for the CNC machined parts the eventual system required (knurled rollers etc) so i suggest that he started to experiment with a very DIY shredder, using cutting blades, which he would have in his studio, and an old motor (looks like an wheelchair motor to me). However, as the power and loads to reliably shred a thick canvas are considerable, i'm going to suggest that after some early trials (hence all the different system parts (belts/motors/rollers etc) shown, he eventually had to call in help, from a more professional engineering company (plenty of small ones exist in the uk, doing public art/displays and similar things (hello mikeselectricstuff!) and they refined the design to the eventual system.

For Banksy though, i could see that he'd very much want to make it look like he did it all, and not that he had to call in outside (possibly commercial, ie paid) help, hence all the smoke and mirrors releasing of footage of the earlier DIY systems?

[cgroen]

Soldering is not what he is best at 

[Rerouter]

nah that is clearly his vincent van gogh moment, suffering for his art

[janoc]

Soldering is not what he is best at 

Yeah, I saw that one too. Also someone needs to sponsor his crew a proper iron instead of that 10 euro/GBP Lidl special that fellow is holding (well, it likely isn't from Lidl because that one was green but it is the same crappy iron).

[dr.diesel]

Also someone needs to sponsor his crew a proper iron

I think he can afford to sponsor his own crew!

[janoc]

Banksy though, i could see that he'd very much want to make it look like he did it all, and not that he had to call in outside (possibly commercial, ie paid) help, hence all the smoke and mirrors releasing of footage of the earlier DIY systems?

Right - so he releases footage of a guy "soldering" the motor wires by holding the cold soldering iron (notice the absence of any smoke) by the metal part that would normally be 300+ degrees C. Or a shredder design that can't possibly work.

Come on, you are giving him too much credit. As Dave said - he is trolling everyone who takes this stuff at face value.

[janoc]

Also someone needs to sponsor his crew a proper iron

I think he can afford to sponsor his own crew!

One would think so but I kinda pity that fool with that "soldering iron" in the video if they really had to use that firestick for anything 

[dcac]

Perhaps the half-threading was caused by a cold solder joint.

And have they checked the frame to see if the mechanism is or can be disabled - there might i.e. be tamper switches inside - so the transformation to a genuine Pranksy might still not be complete.

[NiHaoMike]

Could the receiver be one of those key finder gadgets? The beeping sure sounds like one.

[FrankBuss]

Yeah, right, he doesn't like that his artwork is sold, this is what he says. But this is exactly why the crazy rich people want to buy it. And I'm sure he doesn't mind the money. He even has an agent who sells his work, and "Banksy" sounds suspiciously like money. But he did some cool other stunts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5335400.stm
 

[ebastler]

I can think of one possible explanation for the "exacto blades" tyre arrangement originally shown. [...]

I can think of another explanation: It might be a tip-o-the-hat to fellow street artist "Farewell", who previously came up with the idea of slicing up outdoor advertising posters with a row of (properly oriented) X-acto knives:

http://www.beautifuldecay.com/2014/05/14/street-artist-farewells-destroys-outdoor-advertisements-homemade-paper-shredder/

Seems that Farewell did this in 2014, so it may very well have "inspired" Banksy.

[Silveruser]

BTW, that red stapler is not a stapler as such. It used to put in those diamond shaped points that hold the back in place.

[TrickyNekro]

I bet my bottom dollar that someone who would have gone through all that, to shred a painting in an auction is not just done there.

I really bet that if someone tries to open the thing, or wait long enough the thing will shred itself through and through.

The prank isn´t over people! This last part of his video is just an omen!

[Zbig]

Am I the only one unsure whether "infamous" actually means what Dave seems to think it means?

[f4eru]

We unmasked the face of the real Banksy !
His soldering technique revealed who he really is 

[Fungus]

Am I the only one unsure whether "infamous" actually means what Dave seems to think it means?

Yes.

[wilfred]

Am I the only one unsure whether "infamous" actually means what Dave seems to think it means?

If you think Banksy is a great street artist then he's famous. If you think his art isn't, and he is just a graffiti vandal the he is infamous. If you're unsure you might be a critic.

Infamous is a word whose meaning is morphing with famous in popular usage. Because Banksy operates in a clandestine way making pointed social commentary I think infamous is reasonable.

But I'm not entirely sure Dave was making a value judgement.

[Fungus]

Infamous is a word whose meaning is morphing with famous in popular usage. Because Banksy operates in a clandestine way making pointed social commentary I think infamous is reasonable.

[SiliconWizard]

From what I've understood of all the technical details, I too think he's still trolling. Nothing suprising though. Am I going too far if I say that he's been trolling with his "art" all along?

[james_s]

Art is a very strange world that I have never been able to comprehend. There are very attractive paintings that are worth a few dollars at best, and there is amateurish garbage that is worth thousands or millions of dollars. It's not a matter of rarity, whether $5 or $5 Million there is only one original copy. It's certainly not a matter of skill, some abstract crap that I could paint in 10 minutes is worth a fortune. I have to wonder if the people willing to pay large sums of money for a work of art are as mentally ill as some of the well known artists. Perhaps it's just a case of people having so much money that they can't think of anything else to do with it.

[ebastler]

Art is a very strange world that I have never been able to comprehend. There are very attractive paintings that are worth a few dollars at best, and there is amateurish garbage that is worth thousands or millions of dollars. It's not a matter of rarity, whether $5 or $5 Million there is only one original copy. It's certainly not a matter of skill, some abstract crap that I could paint in 10 minutes is worth a fortune. I have to wonder if the people willing to pay large sums of money for a work of art are as mentally ill as some of the well known artists. Perhaps it's just a case of people having so much money that they can't think of anything else to do with it.

You forgot the "I'm not an art expert, but I know what I like!" bit. 

[james_s]

You forgot the "I'm not an art expert, but I know what I like!" bit. 

I'm as much an art expert as any other art expert, they're all full of shit anyway, the sort of people who can't get enough of looking down their nose at people and smelling their own farts. Art is very subjective, and it's completely bizarre how seriously some people take it.

[FrankBuss]

I'm as much an art expert as any other art expert, they're all full of shit anyway, the sort of people who can't get enough of looking down their nose at people and smelling their own farts. Art is very subjective, and it's completely bizarre how seriously some people take it.

I would say some of the most expensive paintings look good. There is a list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_paintings

But I didn't know that they got that much expensive, like half a billion dollar for the most expensive painting in the world. But only one painting which I could do, too, the Suprematist Composition. I guess for such abstract art then it is just luck that someone likes your painting and wants to pay for it. But besides luck, you still have to start painting first.

[Koen]

80M : https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/barnett-newman-1905-1970-black-fire-i-5792532-details.aspx

40M : http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/may-2013-contemporary-evening-n08991/lot.17.esthl.html

20M : http://artist.christies.com/Robert-Ryman--42608.aspx

[Mr. Scram]

I'm as much an art expert as any other art expert, they're all full of shit anyway, the sort of people who can't get enough of looking down their nose at people and smelling their own farts. Art is very subjective, and it's completely bizarre how seriously some people take it.

Thanks for proving ebastler's point.

[james_s]

I'm as much an art expert as any other art expert, they're all full of shit anyway, the sort of people who can't get enough of looking down their nose at people and smelling their own farts. Art is very subjective, and it's completely bizarre how seriously some people take it.

Thanks for proving ebastler's point.

And what point was that? Is he one of those art snobs who thinks he knows more than others?

[james_s]

Additionally, graffiti is not art, it is vandalism plain and simple, a ubiquitous blight on the urban landscape. I'd love to see graffiti tagging made a felony. First offense should get a minimum of 1,000 hours of community service cleaning up graffiti. It costs individuals and businesses huge amounts of money and effort to clean up and makes cities everywhere look like garbage.

[ebastler]

I'm as much an art expert as any other art expert, they're all full of shit anyway, the sort of people who can't get enough of looking down their nose at people and smelling their own farts. Art is very subjective, and it's completely bizarre how seriously some people take it.

Thanks for proving ebastler's point.

And what point was that? Is he one of those art snobs who thinks he knows more than others?

Thanks for your interest. My point was mainly that your post was lacking any original thought on the matter.

If you take a step back, you might find that Banksy is taking a rather playful approach at his art; he enjoys blurring the boundaries between "art" and "non-art", and has an ambivalent view of the art market and art critics, to say the least. Your rants about "art experts" and people taking art overly serious seem to miss that.

[FrankBuss]

80M : https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/barnett-newman-1905-1970-black-fire-i-5792532-details.aspx

40M : http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/may-2013-contemporary-evening-n08991/lot.17.esthl.html

20M : http://artist.christies.com/Robert-Ryman--42608.aspx

Right, the $80M painting is a bit overpriced, but the $40M is totally worth the money. Just the size is massive: 102 x 120 in. (259.1 x 304.8 cm), so the canvas and oil paint itself could be easily worth 0.001% of the price. And read the catalogue note of the painting, this clearly explains the price:

Onement VI by Barnett Newman overwhelms and seduces the viewer with the totality of its sensual, cascading washes of vibrant blue coexisting with Newman’s vertical "Sign" of the human presence, his iconic and revolutionary "zip."  As a portal to the sublime, the limitless realm of sumptuous color envelops the viewer and brings life to Newman’s assertion that his monumental canvases be experienced up close rather than from a distance.  The demarcation of the zip, in its placement, form and complementary hue of light blue, serves both a temporal and spatial purpose in the expansive and personalized experience of this masterpiece of Newman’s aesthetic. By far the most momentous in scale of the six paintings of the Onement series.

[Fungus]

But I didn't know that they got that much expensive, like half a billion dollar for the most expensive painting in the world.

It's pocket change if you're the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture.

[Fungus]

art that I could paint in 10 minutes...

...but didn't.

(and that's the point)

[razberik]

Additionally, graffiti is not art, it is vandalism plain and simple, a ubiquitous blight on the urban landscape.

An actual story happened: A man bought a garage in lines of many garages. All garages were plain-colored and this man painted his own garage with graffiti. Then somebody considered this mans property was damaged and he repainted his garage to previous color. The garage owner sued unknown vandal for damaging his property.

[Brumby]

From what I've understood of all the technical details, I too think he's still trolling. Nothing suprising though. Am I going too far if I say that he's been trolling with his "art" all along?

It has been my observation that artists find discussion about their works a key objective - so while we are crawling through the engineering involved, I'm sure he is happy to give us material to run with.

It is also this attention that will have increased the value.  Not every one has a piece from a well known artist that has been shredded - and the more it's talked about, the greater the interest ...

[Peabody]

It has been my observation that artists find discussion about their works a key objective - so while we are crawling through the engineering involved, I'm sure he is happy to give us material to run with.

It is also this attention that will have increased the value.  Not every one has a piece from a well known artist that has been shredded - and the more it's talked about, the greater the interest ...

Don't forget - it was shredded by the artist himself, using a design he created.  None of this shredded-by-assistant rubbish.  So not only is the half-shredded print worth a fortune, but I bet the shredding mechanism itself would sell separately for half a million at least.  And who knows what the remote would go for.

The fine art market is so profoundly perverted that the buyer will no doubt make a fortune on the shredded work.  This "work of art" is worth more destroyed than it was when still intact.

[Bud]

If he will leave poop by his artwork, the poop will be carefully picked and sold on auctions for double the price of the artwork. Or most likely his poop will be declared artwork.

[Fungus]

The fine art market is so profoundly perverted that this "work of art" is worth more destroyed than it was when still intact.

Why is that "perverted"?

The whole point of owning a painting instead of a inkjet printed copy is that there's only one, that yours is unique and therefore better.

Lots of people have got a copy of this painting. There's only one that was shredded in public by Banksy so this one is obviously worth more than the others.

[snoopy]

Aussies will be able to relate to this

[SiliconWizard]

From what I've understood of all the technical details, I too think he's still trolling. Nothing suprising though. Am I going too far if I say that he's been trolling with his "art" all along?

It has been my observation that artists find discussion about their works a key objective - so while we are crawling through the engineering involved, I'm sure he is happy to give us material to run with.

It is also this attention that will have increased the value.  Not every one has a piece from a well known artist that has been shredded - and the more it's talked about, the greater the interest ...

This is the whole point of this "modern art" trend.
The attention an artist can get. Not the artefacts themselves, which frankly don't even matter most of the time.
Some artists even have released paintings that were just blank, off-the-shelf canvas. No kidding. This is a nice demonstration of this. Obviously not everyone is able to pull that off. The "art" doesn't lie in the artefacts anymore in that case, but in the artist's self-marketing skills. Whether "art" is the right word for this is up for debate, but it's certainly not accessible to just anybody. We could note that this is an almost complete 180° turn compared to past "conventional" art, the artists of which were often completely broke, mostly unknown and died without any kind of recognition.

[Brumby]

Aussies will be able to relate to this

Banksy has introduced a whole new class of meme...

[Fungus]

art that I could paint in 10 minutes...

...but didn't.

http://smbc-comics.com/comic/modern-art-2