Banksy is the Daft Punk of graffiti, no one knows what the exact identity of this British artist is. A tireless critic of the intrinsic absurdities of capitalism, some of his productions have ironically panicked the art market, with sales of several million euros. In 2018, he had also hidden a paper shredder in one of these works to denounce this drift. Some 250 pieces made by this world-renowned artist are exhibited free of charge from this Saturday at the Libourne merry-go-round barracks until May 14, by the Banksy Modest Collection.
Behind this structure, an enthusiast: François Bérardino, known as Béru, who has patiently amassed for seventeen years hundreds of serigraphs, stickers, photos, stencils attributed to the artist, whose values he shares. On the occasion of this exhibition, the sixth since the launch in 2020, donations are collected for around twenty associations, including SOS Méditerranée or Médecins du Monde. Banksy did not officially give the green light to the exhibition but he did not denounce it, as has already happened to him when it came to using his art for commercial purposes. In Libourne, the support of the urban artist is therefore tacit but very real.
“Every object tells a story”
During a visit to London in 2007, Béru meets Banksy without knowing it. He exchanges with a street artist who offers him two sketches and it is later by immersing himself in the only book signed by the author “Wall and Piece” (War and Spray), that he notices similarities and understands that he visited the workshop of the master of political graffiti. He then begins to investigate on the Internet to collect pieces (vinyl covers, stamps, drawings etc.) provided that “each object tells a story”, he explains.
Mediators are there to accompany the public and discuss the context or anecdotes related to the different plays. There is, for example, the retouched CD of “Paris Hilton”, whose singing talents he does not really admire, produced with DJ Danger Mouse to “make fun of the music industry”. We also discover that Banksy has invested in an old disused seaside resort to install Dismal Land, an anti-amusement park that diverts the figures of Disney Land. For two weeks, militant concerts and other quirky events are organized there. For Béru, it’s a way of alerting us to “what we show our children”. During the visit, we also come across more famous pieces by the artist such as the man with the bouquet or the Che Guevara with glasses adorned with dollars.
Do not talk about Banksy but about his values
Béru buys online but also corresponds with street art enthusiasts and other collectors who alert each other to their fads. An early fan, for example, he provided the Banksy Modeste Collection (BMC) with photos of the artist’s first works taken by himself. We see the emergence of his style and taste for stencil. “Today, I will no longer be able to collect these coins because of the speculation to which they are subject”. He gave himself a budget of 300 euros per month when he collected his coins for his own account, before the creation of the BMC.
“The primary objective is not to talk about Banksy but about his values, points out Thierry Angles, the director of the BMC. The idea is that there is a politico-artistic scope which benefits the associations”. “His political struggles resonate with ours,” added the structures in a joint statement. The kind of hard-hitting exhibition from which we do not come out completely unscathed.