Banksy is an alt-art Midas. Everything he touches turns to popular. He never does anything they way the contemporary art establishment expects and he’s a genius at subtly mixing social commentary with visual surprise. His works are multi-layered, but they stand alone on every individual level. That’s not easy and that’s one of the big reasons why he gets as much attention as he does.
His first New York show, “The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill” at 89 West 7th Avenue, is less than 300 square feet and can’t hold more than 20 people at a time. Passers-by can check out the storefront window 24/7, and inside there’s no graffiti or any mention of Banksy at all. Inside, he debuts his new work with animatronics with an absolutely genius line-up of creatures. Nothing in here is really what it seems: Fishsticks swim inside a fish bowl, hotdogs laze about inside their plastic tanks, and baby chicken nuggets peck away at a small tub of barbeque sauce…
The man himself said “I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.”
The New York Times said “The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, as the green awning reads, is Banksy’s first official exhibition in New York, his representatives say, and it will be open to the public daily through Oct. 31. ‘Open for Pet Supplies/Rare Breeds/Mechanically retrieved meat’ says a sign in front of the shop. Bales of hay dot the sidewalk, along with a kiddie dolphin ride, wrapped in a fishing net like the day’s catch. But it is the leopard in one of the storefront windows that stops passers-by first. ‘Is that — real?’ a woman asked on Wednesday, peering at a large furry object perched on a tree branch, its tail swinging. It’s not: it is an ingeniously arranged fake fur coat. The robot monkey is more lifelike: it sits, breathing, in a cage inside the store, wearing headphones, holding a remote and watching a television clip of some fellow monkeys in an amorous moment.”
NOTCOT commissioned Seth Brau to make (finally… thank god) a HD version for us all to check out. It’s niiiice:
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