Banksy’s Call to Arms: Commercial Copyright Feud
By Sarah Knight
Prolific graffiti artist Banksy launched an act of retaliation last week in taking to Instagram to oppose designer clothing brand GUESS’s new collection, which is centred around the artist’s works. The capsule collection adorned the window of their Regent Street store and featured Banksy’s Flower Thrower stencil among other graffiti designs by the artist, who posted a photo of the storefront to their 11.7 million Instagram followers, captioned:
"Attention all shoplifters. Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They've helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?"
November 18, 2022: GUESS Employees Cover Regent Street Window Display. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
This response seemingly came as a shock to GUESS, with their chief creative officer Paul Marciano having made a statement, before the collection’s official launch, in which he said the intention was to create a display of gratitude to Banksy as a staple of popular culture. The unforeseen – though very public – reproach of Banksy, however, resulted in panic amongst store staff who quickly covered the window display while security closed the store. While there have been arguments against encouraging theft as retaliation, which has been labelled ‘irresponsible and immature’, the argument Banksy was making through this call to arms remains clear. It is being presented as a double standard; regardless of intention, GUESS could be viewed as effectively committing theft in their use of Banksy’s artwork without permission.
Central to this issue is not only the very publicly-scorned GUESS, but also their collaborators, Brandalised. The company has rights to graffiti from all across the world, and publicly states that its aim is to support ‘global fan culture’ within what is generally a very exclusive art market. In collaborating with brands and manufacturers, they intend to make graffiti collectibles which are affordable, with their website showing a major focus on Banksy’s practice. At present, there is generalised uncertainty surrounding whether Brandalised does, in fact, have permission for the sublicensing of the artworks used. Pest Control, who names itself the ‘only body authorised to authenticate Banksy’s art’ has, however, stated that Banksy’s art is in fact ‘not licensed to third parties’. They have also labelled such commercial use of Banksy’s art as a misrepresentation of the artist, supporting Banksy’s own statement that ‘any graffiti in a public space… belongs to you. It’s yours to take, rearrange and reuse’. Brandalised has attempted to turn this statement against Banksy himself in the commercial feud. Arguably, however, it has been misunderstood. The suggestion here is that graffiti belongs to the people as it is, not as something to be commercialised and profited from by large businesses like GUESS.
@brandalised, Instagram
This public quarrel highlights issues surrounding ownership, value and commercialisation – concepts which are inherent to the art market more generally. It seems to open the door for questions around the explicit ownership of graffiti and, beyond this, whether such arguments may cloud the meaning and reception of the works in question.
Bibliography
Banksy (@banksy). ‘Attention all shoplifters.’ Instagram, 18 November 2022. https://www.instagram.com/p/ClGt3p4Mljx/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=921e8aa0-ccf4-469b-813d-421896e5ea76
Brandalised HQ (@brandalised). Instagram, 20 November 2022. https://www.instagram.com/brandalised/
‘Banksy appears to encourage fans to steal from Guess after brand uses his art in clothing capsule” Artnet News. 18 November 2022. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/banksy-guess-clothing-brandalised-london-store-1234647209/
“Banksy urges shoplifters to ‘help themselves’ to Guess clothing after copyright row” Sky News. 19 November 2022. https://news.sky.com/story/banksy-urges-shoplifters-to-help-themselves-to-guess-clothing-after-copyright-row-12750932
“Banksy urges ‘all shoplifters’ to steal clothes from Guess amid copyright row” Telegraph. 18 November 2022. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/18/banksy-urges-shoplifters-steal-clothes-guess-amid-copyright/