Antonella Barba - Sunday, February 27, 2011 9:36 - 25 Comments

Academy Likes Banksy

Toxic Banksy Rat

Banksy isn’t just the other white meat, he’s #129 of Christian Lander‘s “stuff white people like” list. Oh, and he’s also favored to win an Oscar for Best Documentary this year for his directing debut “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” So it may no longer just be hipster “white people” that like graffiti artist Banksy if the Academy awards him the gold.

“Exit” does a great job of showing how silly and utterly arbitrary the art world can be when it comes to valuing and pricing art.  The documentary raises questions about the nature of public art, advertising and the commercialization of said art.

The big, big question: Will Banksy show for the Oscars ceremony? I hope not.

If Banksy does pop up at the Kodak Theatre it had better not be during the show or I’ll be very disappointed. Make producer Jaimie D’Cruz or the annoying vintage clothing guy, Thierry Guetta sit through the production. Banksy’s a genuine social satirist for goodness sake. If Banksy walks the red carpet he had better be wearing a meat bikini.

All hail Banksy! This Oscar nod proves he is a master of street art and self-promotion; he’s about two weeks away from cutting off his ear and landing a McDonald’s commercial. It may be that, deep down everybody loves a bad boy, even an industry that profits from taking as little risk as possible.