New York, I really do love you.
This afternoon while attempting to busy myself every which way possible in an effort to avoid doing what my company pays me to do, I was on my various sites reading up on all things NY when it was brought to my attention that the infamous graffiti artist Banksy struck in NYC last night. Apparently Banksy hasn’t thrown up anything in NYC since 2008 so the intertubes are all abuzz over this recent find.
I tried to communicate some thoughts regarding the idea of every hipster harry and their entourage running over to the piece in order to snap their picture next to it, pointing at it, or doing some other lame ass thing that hipsters do when things like this pop up all over NYC but my comments were misconstrued to represent my disdain for a difference in personal style. Guess I shouldn’t have opened my statement with a bitch-fest on skinny jeans? Either way, the person that I had a back and forth torrent with later came out to express their interpretation of the image as a doctor looking for life in NYC and being unable to find any. I thought it was an interesting concept – and I suppose to some of us out there, myself included or else I wouldn’t be looking to get out of NYC as a whole, their elucidation holds truth. The interesting thing for me was that as much as I have a difficult time in finding the positive things to see in our city these days, my first estimation when looking at Banksy’s piece was that the doctor was listening to the heart of NYC and was loving it.
If there is anything that can be said about a NYer that is true, it is that we have got some heart. There is definitely a pulse in the underbelly of NYC and even in the grittiest grimiest parts of town, the flavor is clearly identifiable. It bothers me that I forget that I love my city. It bothers me that my life’s experiences have given me this cynical approach to all of the wonderful things that are inherently New York – I already posted the Brooklyn Unite thing and I’m going to really try to run with this idea for the reason that like any abusive relationship, I want to fall back in love with the bitch.
Photo credit: Banksy forum on Flickr.
i concur with the looking for a pulse... not that nyc ever lost it... but where is the heart in that pulse? the doctor does seem to be concerned. what is making the heart beat? is there a murmur? whats the state of affairs when it comes to nyc's <3's health...
ReplyDeletealso, when i said that on the other site, i was taking into consideration that banksy is usually a bit cynical, and politically charged. thats kinda his whole thing..
ReplyDeleteI knew him to incite some political stuff, but wasn't as aware of his cynicism. I guess our different immediate opinions of what we were looking at only proves that art really is in the eye of the beholder.... Or at least the interpretation of it is. If you weren't aware of his usual position and opinion would your intrepretation have been the same?
ReplyDeletewell, considering it will be near impossible to convince you of my objectivity at this point, i could say either way.. but knowing myself, yes, i'd have to say that is how i would have read it either way.. i think there is an association with a doctor checking the heart that implies illness, not so much "yay! im at the doctors office!"
ReplyDeleteI totally see your point in terms of what the doctor implies but I think the fact that the focal point (for me at least) was the I LOVE <3 NY poster, that's the thought that took over my mind when forming my opinion of the piece.. Either way, I think we both formed nice interpretations accordingly.
ReplyDeletemy analysis of this is basically that the I <3 NY sign is an already widely recognized entity in the world (not just NYC), so it in itself brings nothing new to the table. its merely a vehicle for /his/ message..thus the focal point is what he is bringing to the piece that is new, and not something already recognized - the doctor checking for NYs heartbeat. if you substituted the doctor for something else, say...a circus clown, what would the response be? entirely different, likely for both of us. thats the lowest common denominator in this case, and was the focus of both of our interpretations. we both new what I <3 NY was, and we both had an opinion based on the doctors relevance/purpose, and if it WAS something else, it would leave things far too open to interpretation. Banksy has a message to send, which is why i think he is more deliberate in his imagery.. so as to get the message across as quickly as possible without too much thought. wayyyyy less thought than you and i have both put into this.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, its started a discussion :)