Everyone is buzzing about Banksy’s latest creation in Lenton on Ilkeston Road.
The hula-hoop girl is something that has made the locals proud and brought in crowds trying to get pictures of the famous graffiti artist’s latest work.
The street art appeared on the wall on 16 October and after speculation, it was finally confirmed on Saturday morning, 17 October that the author of this piece is really Banksy.
The composition on the wall of a beauty salon shows a young girl hula-hooping with a bike tyre and right next to it is placed an actual bicycle that is missing its tyre.
In honour of Banksy brightening up our beloved Nottingham streets, we have looked into his best and most famous works.
Banksy is an anonymous and iconic British street artist, who has a very specific and recognisable style.
He is known for his stencilling technique and he likes blending dark humour and political and social messages to his art.
Early career
One of the first murals that caught a lot of attention from the public was called The Mild Mild West (1999) – which Banksy drew in his hometown Bristol.
It shows a teddy bear about to throw a Molotov cocktail towards three riot policemen.
The background of this piece is that it was in the area that had a history of throwing unlicensed raves and there was an instance when the riot police started assaulting the partakers.
Image credit: Visit Bristol
Banksy’s best-known street art
An artwork that comes straight in to my mind when I think of Banksy is from his first exhibition in Los Angeles called Love is in the Air (2003), also known as Flower Thrower.
It first appeared in Jerusalem as a large graffiti art on a wall that parts Israel from Palestine and since then many various versions have been reproduced of this iconic piece.
A man wearing a bandana and a baseball cap is throwing a flower bouquet, but the rage in his body language indicates that there should be a bomb in his hand instead.
The anti-war message for this painting is quite easy to see- replacing weapons with peace.
Image credit: Public Delivery
Another Banksy classic is Girl with Balloon (2002) illustrating a child reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon that’s flying away from her grasp.
It is thought that it represents someone innocent trying to hold onto love and care that is slipping away, and for this reason it has found use in different social campaigns.
In 2018 Banksy transformed the painting by shredding it at an auction and giving it a new name Love is in the Bin.
Image credit: WindowCranky
Nola (2008) – also known as Umbrella Girl or Rain Girl – was first presented on the streets of New Orleans following the destructive Hurricane Katrina.
The artwork is of a girl standing under her umbrella and stretching out her hand to feel the rain, but gets confused when she realises that her shelter is actually the source of the rain.
This piece was created to offer compassion for the ones who had suffered from the consequences of the hurricane and it is thought that the meaning of the painting is that the locals couldn’t find protection from their own homes and had to evacuate.
Image credit: Custom Puzzle Craft
The ‘Banksy effect’
Banksy gained a lot of recognition and fame in between the years 2006 and 2007, when his works started to sell for his auction records – reaching up to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
One of the early record breakers was a painting called Bomb Middle England (2007) that depicts middle-aged women playing petanque, but the balls have been replaced with bombs, criticising the sad and spiritless middle-class culture.
When other artists started to see how successful Banksy was, they started to try and imitate his style to be part of the phenomenon and people started to refer to it as the “Banksy effect”.
Image credit: MyArtBroker
Most expensive work
As time went by, the fascination of Banksy’s art did not fade, instead it grew even more rapidly.
Devolved Parliament (2009) sold in 2019 for $12 million (£9.9 million) at Sotheby’s art auction in London – five times its estimated value.
It is a large oil painting that illustrates the House of Commons, but instead of politicians, it is filled with chimpanzees.
The painting was ironically put on display on Brexit day, when the artwork had acquired an even deeper meaning than when it was first painted.
Image credit: Wikipedia
As we can see from Banksy’s creative journey, he is an artist with a lot of influence, and he uses his art to speak to his viewers of problems that are arising in society.
His art has the power to gather the attention of the masses and make them think critically, uplift their spirits with satire or encourage them to make a difference.
Although the hidden meaning of the hula-hooping girl can still be contemplated, it can be said that it has excited the people of Nottingham in a stressful time when we’re in lack of optimism for the near future.
By Kirke Viira
Feature image: Sky News