When Banksy Made Himself Artist in Residence of NYC
Be like Banksy! Have some fun with it!
In 2013, the globally famous, anonymous graffiti artist Banksy announced that he had awarded himself a one-month artist residency in New York. Every day, over the course of a month, a new work of art appeared somewhere in the city.
Some were classic Banksy works: funny and thought-provoking spray-painted stencils on the sides of run-down buildings.
Others were more like installation pieces: a delivery truck that delivered calm in the form of a tranquil, immersive waterfall scene in the back, or a slaughterhouse truck with adorable stuffed animals peeking out between the slats that drove around the meatpacking district for two weeks.
My favorite was the day he set up a stall in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, alongside the other artists selling cheap tourist art, and offered up paintings for $60 each—paintings that would sell in a gallery for $20,000. Hardly anyone even stopped. He sold eight paintings all day.
So Banksy is Banksy, and there’s no one else quite like him. But what can you and I take from Banksy’s approach to his self-appointed artist residency?
Treat it as a lark. Make it your playground.
When I told passers-by that I’d appointed myself the artist-in-residence of Washington Park, I would always get a laugh. People loved it! It makes the whole enterprise feel light and capricious.
That doesn’t mean that it’s a joke. If we treat our art like a joke, that probably means we’re feeling a little defensive, a little protective. Treating it as a joke is a way of minimizing it, trivializing it, so as to lower everyone's expectations.
But a lark? A lark is (yes, I looked it up) a quest for amusement or adventure.
Who doesn’t want to go off on a lark?
So what does a lark look like for you?
It might just be the spirit with which you undertake your residency. How you talk about it with friends or strangers. What you tell your family when you’re headed out the door. What you say to people on social media or in the group text, if you feel like doing that.
Perhaps you take a cue from
and make yourself an official certificate awarding your artist residency to yourself, with all the rights, privileges, and honors thereunto appertaining.
If you’re going to be the artist-in-residence of a particular place or institution, it’s not impossible to imagine getting a uniform together. There might be a t-shirt or a hat connected to the place of your residency. Or maybe you need a bit of gear. When David Sedaris appointed himself the litter picker-upper of his little corner of rural England (not as an art project, exactly, although is there anything David Sedaris does that isn’t an art project?), he equipped himself, as anyone would, with a bag, a grabber, and a vest. If you think an official-looking vest would serve your purposes, get one!
It might be the kind of art you make.
wrote about how he made small works of art and left them for people to find—including in little free libraries.Or maybe it’s in how you share your art.
posted this fantastic video showing how she would draw a street scene, then make a copy, and staple it to the telephone pole where the drawing was made. What a great way to hold an art show!Down the street from me is an apartment building with windows at eye level that face directly onto the sidewalk. For years someone staged elaborate Lego scenes on the windowsill for us to enjoy as we walked by. If I had a window like that, I would totally display art there.
I hope these ideas inspire you, or at least make you feel happy just thinking about them. I’m off to be the artist-in-residence of Venice, and I’ll report back!
Supporters are getting a little more perspective
If you’re a supporter of this newsletter, you’re about to get part two of our little series on one and two point perspective. After that, I very much hope I’ll be sending you some videos from Venice! Will I get some good drawing time in? Will I manage to film any of it? Stay tuned!
For the price of a nice pencil or two, you can get in on the art-making fun. No experience needed, and there’s a substantial archive for you to explore. You can also give a subscription as a gift, if you’d like to recruit a friend into our art-making community!
The Bit at the End
Order signed copies of my new book, The Tree Collectors, from Broadway Books here in Portland.
Come find me on Instagram, or see paintings for sale- Right here
Order signed copies of some of my books from my husband’s bookstore, or order my books and many books I love at Bookshop.org
Take one of my online writing or art classes here
Leave a comment! I love hearing from you!
Amazing stuff, Amy!
I’ve been doing a self-appointed, spontaneous pop-up poetry series called “Notes from Destiny” this summer in places of natural beauty close to home. It consists of my writing free poems on a vintage typewriter for strangers in a botanical garden, a park overlooking a valley, a hiking trail, a rocky beach, etc. It’s been a fabulous experience! I’ve met so many lovely humans (and their dogs) and learned so much!
(I posted about a couple of weeks ago if you want to check it out.) Love what you’re doing!
I am absolutely obsessed with these ideas, Amy. Working fervently in the background on making this dream come to fruition despite my non-drawing abilities:)