Banksy Street Art Exhibition Also Showcases New Japanese Talent

During a 2024 roundtable discussion on Yukio Mishima to celebrate the author's centenary, one scholar made an interesting observation. He pointed out the irony in celebrating the life of a writer who, for his entire adult life, was obsessed with death. Showcasing street art, particularly that of Banksy, within the confines of a gallery feels equally paradoxical.

The Stream of Banksy Effect: Street Art (R)Evolution is running at Shibuya Stream Hall in Tokyo. Featuring approximately 100 works by 49 artists, from its early pioneers like TAKI 183 to contemporary figures like Banksy, it aims to unravel the history of street art. Fittingly, neither Banksy nor the other artists authorized the exhibition.

*Untitled (2017) by TAKI 183 (©Japan Forward by Daniel Manning)*

From Graffiti to Art

The origins of street art can be traced back to the late 1960s when graffiti first emerged in New York City. Subway cars and stations became canvases for young artists. In the South Bronx, African American and Hispanic youth left their signatures — known as "tags" — to assert their presence in public spaces.

When I was a child growing up in Ireland, the appeal of street art was lost on me. Graffiti was either a propaganda medium for paramilitary groups or a signpost directing people where to leave their empty cans of Heineken.

As a teenager, however, the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring that grew out of the graffiti subculture intrigued me. It had the youthful energy of graffiti without the unrefined chaos. It also had a warmer jouissance than the more classical art I loved and a vivacity that was absent from the catatonic factory-line paintings of Andy Warhol.

Icons

Street Art (R)Evolution begins with a more recent untitled work by the New York-based street art innovator TAKI 183. Soft, blurred strokes of pink and blue gently intertwine, contrasting with sharp, thin streaks of black that cut across the canvas. Flanking either side are the names of various capital cities.

All this creates the impression of gazing at the world through tear-filled eyes, where wet lashes blur the view. Like most days in Dublin, then.

Also representing the old guard are works by Basquiat and Haring. Walk around Shibuya any day of the week, and you will see Japanese university students sporting t-shirts featuring Basquiat designs. Take a morning train anywhere in Japan, and you will see kids carrying backpacks covered in Haring's luminous jiving men. What is it about these artists that still captivates kids today?

Youth, Energy, and Hope

Basquiait's 1988 work Supercomb is displayed on the exhibit's second floor. With its scratched-out words and half-finished doodles, perhaps it speaks to the boredom and ennui many teenagers and young adults feel. On the other hand, the bright yellow that dominates the painting may resonate with the childhood memories of freedom and fun and their hopes for the future.

*Supercomb (1988) by Jean-Michel Basquiat (©Japan Forward by Daniel Manning)*

Also on the second floor is Haring's Swing (Vert). As many have pointed out, his signature multicolored men harken back to the primitive cave paintings of prehistoric times.

Yet the impossible shapes and angles they bend into against a warm background of orange, red, and green convey a simple gaiety. For students studying around the clock for finals and university exams, Haring's art may serve as a small beacon of comfort.

The Japanese New Wave

Another striking piece early on in the exhibit is an installation by Japanese street artist CHOB ONE.

Japan's sparkling graffiti-free trains would seem the antithesis of the mobile subterranean jungle that gave birth to street art. Nevertheless, they belie a surprisingly burgeoning street art scene.

Artist CHOB ONE has constructed the back of a Japanese kei (or mini) truck, and filled it with empty spray paint cans, shoes, and Noh masks. Protruding from a graffiti-covered wall, the piece is an intertextual exploration, highlighting the creative process by reimagining the artist's workspace.

The truck bursting through the wall and leaving a colorful trail of spray paint in its wake seems something of a metaphor for street art. It is as though CHOB ONE is emphasizing that for the street artist, the studio is outside, and his or her medium cannot be contained.

Bending Rules, Embracing Tradition

Well, it can be in Japan. Punishments for graffiti include fines of up to ¥300,000 JPY ($2,000 USD) and even a three-year prison sentence. However, as exhibition panels point out, Japanese street artists have found a way around this, by holding live street art performances.

Many of these artists are also gradually winning over social acceptance for the form as their works are being increasingly used in advertisements for music festivals and other events.

Their work is not just a knockoff of the American or European schools of street art either. Aito Kitazaki employs manga art and traditional Japanese calligraphy in his pieces.

*Ishin (2023) by Aito Kitazaki (©Japan Forward by Daniel Manning)*

SUIKO clearly nods to the genre's originators and even earlier abstract painters like Wassily Kandinsky with his palette. His masterfully minimalistic sense of design and seamless integration of soft and sharp shapes, however, demonstrates a traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibility.

Off the (Street) Wall

The exhibition's centerpiece is, of course, the room of street art giant Banksy's work on the second floor. From Girl with a Balloon, to Laugh Now, and Morons, the room holds dozens of the artist's most recognizable and influential stencil spray-paint works from the early 2000s.

*Girl with Balloon (2004) by Banksy (©Japan Forward by Daniel Manning)*

Initially, I was skeptical of the notion of an indoor Banksy exhibit. Nevertheless, the low-lit corridor and deep red of the gallery walls create a tranquil atmosphere to appreciate his work, independent of its urban environment.

Even without the city walls, stations, and underpasses of the world it sardonically references, the genius simplicity of Banksy's art is undeniable. He has pared color, form, humor, and (sometimes questionable) political commentary down to their essence.

Even today, some 20 years after it first appeared, Banksy's oeuvre continues to traverse age, generation, and nationality in the audiences it reaches.

A Return to the Streets

It is worth noting how Banksy has salvaged art from the vapid commercialization it suffered under ever since Andy Warhol in the 60s.

As art critic Robert Hughes observed, "Warhol did more than any other painter to turn the art world into the art business. By turning himself into pure product, he dissolved the traditional ambitions and tensions of the avant-garde." Hughes suggests his popularity was due to his limited artistic capabilities, which showed "the path of least resistance" to younger artists.

Artistic skill was replaced by abstraction for abstraction's sake. Obscure and unimpressive paintings were accompanied by long conceptual explanations and even longer price tags. Where once visiting art galleries was as common as going to the cinema, it became a niche activity, reserved largely for art students.

*Barcode (2004) by Banksy (©Japan Forward by Daniel Manning)*

By returning art to its street art origins, Banksy effectively wrested it out of 40th-floor galleries on Fifth Street and gave it back to the public. His act of shredding his own work immediately after it was auctioned off for £1.04 million GBP in October 2018, clearly underscores his critique of the commercialization of art.

Thanks to Banksy, art is once more a democratic and universal language for all. Before you leave the exhibition, please feel free to spend ¥40,000 ($260) on reproductions of his art at the gift shop.