Aastha Pandey

Art Analysis of painting by Banksy

Banksy has created many paintings on the west bank barrier than runs

between Israel and Palestine. One of his creations is a Paradise Painting. The

message of this painting is to show the citizens the paradise on the other side of the

barrier.

The focal point of this painting is the paradise. The artist emphasizes on the

paradise by making it the only part where complementary colors have been used.

The paradise has been placed in a hole that is on the wall. The hole represents a way

the people can look through the barrier. Owing to all the figures, the artist shows

that he wants the Palestinians to unite with Israel by showing them the good part of

Israel.

At the time of this painting, the conflict between Palestine and Israel was

very alarming because of the Displacement of the Palestinians by the Israelis.

Therefore the west bank barrier had separated them. Banksy shows the conflict by

painting a fence. The fence is a railing, it symbolizes the separation between the two

places, thus, it gives a message that the two places are having conflict with each

other.

Banksy has used different ways to create this painting on the wall. The

paradise image is created before the he placed it on the wall. The children and the

fence is painted with spray paint and previously cut out stencil. The reasons of the

previous preparation are the government issues. It is illegal to draw on government

property (the barrier). Moreover, he may be disadvantaged by his actions.

Therefore, he has previously prepared all of his paintings so that he can put them up

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Aastha Pandey

on the wall as fast as possible. This way the police will not be able to catch him.

Hence, it is called Guerilla art.

In this painting I see two children with buckets and small shovels and I see a

fence. I think that the children have been painted to show two different

perspectives. The two buckets the children are holding are two different colors, one

is white, and the other is yellow. I think that the yellow and white either represent

cowardice (yellow) and peace (white). Another, the choice of both colors may

represent a combination of peace (white) and hope (yellow). Moreover, the children

are holding the buckets therefore I think that Banksy is trying to show people that

they have to think about their children’s future and the children are becoming a part

of a war and is impacting their lives.

In this painting, Banksy is attempting to express the idea of paradise to the

people. By using the contrast between the grey colors on the children and fence and

the paradise the people’s focus will be brought to the paradise. In my opinion I think

that the overall the message of the painting is very well presented, but I don’t think

it is successful because Palestinians and Israelis have not resolved their problems

completely.

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