What are you looking at, punk?

In the heart of London an urban subculture of graffiti artists is thriving on turning grungy, water-damaged walls on routine street corners into messages. of course their intended message is occult in nature, after all, what kind of graffiti artist goes around signposting their graft's significance and value? a shoddy one, no doubt.

the artist of the image to the left, Banksy, is known for his black and white stencils of commonplace yet paradoxical images. His most well known image is a life sized graft of two London police officers snogging on a public street corner. certainly base protocol at best, yet hilarious to witness by someone being arrested on that very street corner by a real policeman.

I chose the image above for this assignment because it was the most thought provoking for me. Logically the graft makes perfect sense. A video surveillance camera most likely looking towards a doorway or ATM off scene, but when viewed head on looks as though it is pointed straight at the wall. one has to wonder if the writing is intended for the camera or for passersby looking at the words themselves. what ever the intent i found it quite witty.

the very nature of asking a question invites those who see it to respond. the viewer may not take much time to think about what the scene means or even if it's funny or not but the human brain will automatically, for lack of a better word, answer, the question. this invites the audience to participate, it is meant to evoke a response.

one could also consider who the "you" is. perhaps Banksy is a paranoid conspiracy theorist making a statement about the ethics of surveillance in public areas. or perhaps a critique on the low efficacy of surveillance camouflage, or maybe he is trying to warn the public of London about the dangers of Big Brother and how 1984 really isn't too different from the reality of 2008 and that surveillance was just the first step and now no one even notices them anymore. personally, i doubt it, but maybe.