Through film and influence, Banksy comes to Kalamazoo

By Christopher Campbell

A piece by BonusSaves outside South Westnedge Market on South Westnedge Avenue. Photo courtesy of BonusSaves

Western Herald

A piece of BonusSaves' work at a BP station in Kalamazoo. Photo courtesy of BonusSaves

To be pseudonymous is to use a fictitious name. Woody Allen, Billy the Kid, Carmen Electra, Iggy Pop and Houdini all knew the power of a good pseudonym. And so does Banksy.

In 2006, British guerilla artist, pseudonym Banksy, placed a replica of a Guantanamo Bay torture victim inside Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

The replica was an inflatable doll, orange jump-suited and handcuffed.

“Fake prehistoric rock art of a caveman with a shopping trolley has been hung on the walls of the British Museum,” ran a 2005 BBC headline.

Wearing a fake beard, Banksy snuck the piece in on a Monday. It went undiscovered for three days.

Banksy has put a duo of kissing policemen, a chimp version of the queen and a caveman carrying a tray of fast food on English building sides.

Banksy’s mischief has even made it to Kalamazoo, via the movie reel.

‘Exit Through the Shop,’ a Banksy film, appeared in 2010’s Sundance Film Festival and hit Western Michigan University’s Little Theatre last month.

“The film is the story of what happened when this guy tried to make a documentary about me, but he was actually a lot more interesting than I am. So now the film is kind of about him,” said Banksy in the film.

The ‘guy’ is Thierry Guetta, a mutton-chopped Frenchman who immigrated to Los Angeles in the 1980s.

A camcorder fanatic, Guetta records everything, and to earn himself more timebehind the lens, he sells his vintage clothing store.

“It was like more than any drugs to anybody; it was obsession,” said Guetta in the film.

Guetta’s recording is aimless, until his family takes a trip to France. In the dead of Parisian nights, Guetta became the secretive world of street art’s chief documenter.

He filmed his cousin, pseudonym Invader, as he put up pixilated, mosaic versions of the Space Invader character onto highway overpasses, onto anything.

Invader introduced Guetta to his street art allies, including the prolific Shepard Fairey.

The duo scaled buildings, Guetta filming and Fairey attaching colossal stickers depicting the head of a 520-pound wrestler. Written next to the jumbo face is: Andre the Giant has a Posse.

It was rare footage and Guetta was getting it, but he could not get Banksy.

“I hear about this Banksy. Who is Banksy? Banksy, Banksy this; I say I really like that guy, you know? And it’s like I want to interview this guy,” said Guetta in the film, his French accent at an all-time high.

The planets aligned and Guetta got his wish.

Stranded in LA, his chauffeur a no-show, Banksy called Shepard Fairey for help. Fairey suggested a replacement: Guetta.

In the film, Banksy digitally altered his voice, blurred his face and spoke from the shadow of a hood; the only clear shots of himself that Banksy allowed were of his hands.

With those particulars fulfilled, Banksy welcomed the work-preserving power of Guetta’s camera.

“It’s a very frustrating feeling you get when the only people with good photos of your work are the police department,” Banksy said.

Unbeknownst to Banksy and the other street artists he had been filming, all of Guetta’s tapes were going unlabeled into basement boxes.

Guetta’s filmmaker façade crumbled when the final result of his editing was a spastic mess.

“[It turns out that] he was maybe just somebody with mental problems who happened to have a camera,” said Banksy in the film.

When it all ended, Banksy was gone. Yet BonusSaves was in Kalamazoo’s midst.

BonusSaves, an anonymous street artist, has projects going up all around Kalamazoo.

Bonus’ recent work depicts oil-drenched creatures with the text “solve-oil” atop.

“Currently, I feel my work should reflect the largest concern in my history: the genocide of countless species in the Gulf,” BonusSaves said.

“[And] why trust somebody else and their message when yours can be so much clearer?” Bonus said.

“I’ve always been a fan of graffiti. It allows the citizens the ability to say exactly what they want through their own creations,” said Kalamazoo resident Kristen Snyder, 20.

“When a piece of artwork with a clear message pops up in your neighborhood, it shows local interest. [It’s] not News 3, or some 30-second blip. It’s a physical reminder,” Bonus said.

“The works have obvious artistic value. They are effective for those tuned-in enough to recognize the intent,” said Kalamazoo resident Sebastian Peak, 28. “[However], the anonymity of the artist bespeaks a knowledge of perceived wrongdoing.”

“I was arrested for graffiti when I was 17 and haven’t done it since to avoid the legal problems, but I love street art,” Snyder said. “It’s beautiful and gives the city character to me.”

The piece Snyder used to put up was a white ghost hovering in a background of blue and plum purple.

“Laws are laws,” Bonus said. “Is it killing anybody? No. Is it costing somebody potential cash to remove it? Maybe.”

“I try to use the common sense approach. If it’s a house, church, school, active business, [I’m] not going to use it,” Bonus said.

“If any of the above are abandoned or in decay, all bets are off. It’s going to get repainted or torn down anyway. I’m not going to feel guilty about that.”

“The street can be a running dialog if we let it,” Bonus said. “Why give advertisers all the fun?”

“The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff,” writes Banksy in his book Wall and Piece.

“When our eyeballs take in art, our brains get to make decisions,” said Kalamazoo resident Mary Watts, 46. “Fun little decisions like, ‘Do I like this? Do I want to make this my computer’s background?’ I like Bonus’ stuff and I’m glad he’s not dormant because of laws. Seeing his activity makes it easier to burst out of my own inactivity.”

“We all have parts to play in this drama.” Bonus said. “I’d rather not spend all of it on a couch with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 5 2010. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com