Few Banksy Books Are Authorized, But Rizzoli's New One Is (Kinda)
The artist known only as Banksy has had a tenuous relationship with copyright — he famously said it was "for losers" and then proceeded to lose court cases claiming ownership over his work — so when he even comes close to co-signing something, it ain't just rare but cause for borderline celebration.
Banksy, Rizzoli Electa's new book on the anonymous graffiti legend that releases on June 28 for $40, is as "authorized as any Banksy publication could be," according to its press release.
Created in collaboration with Banksy's management company, Pest Control, Banksy is a vast catalogue of the artist's legacy, from his early days of tagging Britain to ambitious projects like Dismaland and The Walled-Off Hotel.
Of course, Banksy plays all the hits, from Girl with Balloon to Pulp Fiction, but there's also a variety of Banksy's "fine art," self-published books, installations, and bits of merch, including some pieces that've never been published in any other collection of Banksy's work.
Banksy is authored by Stefano Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani, the former of whom co-curated one of Banksy's first exhibits in Rome back in 2016, though it was not authorized by the artist.
Antonelli and Maziani's experience is perhaps best represented by one of the charts within Banksy that exhaustively tracks Banksy's career in one handy, semi-easy-to-read diagram.
With a spate of fake Banksy shows and bootleg products perpetually on tap around the globe, it's rare to see anything bearing Banksy's name that actually has the author's blessing.
Note that Banksy isn't necessarily "authorized," though, in that it isn't actually published with Banksy or Pest Control but, given the level of access Rizzoli's team was granted by the artist, it comes pretty darn close.
For the Banksy fans craving newness from the reclusive Brit, that's likely good enough. And, if not, Rizzoli have another (ess-authorized Banksy book also in the works.
