If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model. They exist without permission, they have no respect for the hierarchy of society, and they have sex 50 times a day.
BanksyRead
Graffiti ultimately wins out over proper art because it becomes part of your city, it' s a tool; "I'll meet you in that pub, you know, the one opposite that wall with a picture of a monkey holding a chainsaw". I mean, how much more useful can a painting be than that?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Graffiti connects art to the urban environment, serving as both a tool for navigation and a cultural landmark.
In this quote, Banksy highlights the unique utility of graffiti as art that integrates itself into the fabric of city life. Unlike traditional art forms that may exist in isolation, graffiti becomes a point of reference and community interaction, effectively transforming public spaces into living art that has practical and social significance.
Themes
GraffitiArtUrbanCultureCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community engagement, one could use this quote to illustrate how art can serve functional purposes.
More from Banksy
All quotes →T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.
BanksyRead
I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I'm not sure I like it enough.
BanksyRead
Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a f**king sharp knife to it.
BanksyRead
Gaza is often described as 'the world's largest open air prison' because no-one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons - they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day.
BanksyRead
A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.
BanksyRead
Similar quotes
We read critics for the perceptions, for what they tell us that we didn't fully grasp when we saw the work. The judgments we can usually make for ourselves.
Pauline KaelRead
Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.
Blaise PascalRead
I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience.
Paul Thomas AndersonRead
Ecstasy is not really part of the scene we can do on celluloid.
Orson WellesRead
There are likewise three kinds of dancers: first, those who consider dancing as a sort of gymnastic drill, made up of impersonal and graceful arabesques; second, those who, by concentrating their minds, lead the body into the rhythm of a desired emotion, expressing a remembered feeling or experience. And finally, there are those who convert the body into a luminous fluidity, surrendering it to the inspiration of the soul.
Isadora DuncanRead
Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they're not.
John CleeseRead