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Analysis of an art piece ‘Beach Boys’ <br />Name: Hyo Ji Kim<br />Subject: Humanities<br />Teacher: Dr. Montgomery<br />Word Count: 996<br />The Graffiti Artist Banksy has secretly painted many satirical paintings on the barrier wall near occupied territories and Israel. He defined this barrier as the destination for graffiti writers. He thought the barrier was a nice place to paint his drawings because he could show his thoughts about the conflict in the Middle East. One of his paintings ‘Beach Boys’ was created on the Palestinian side of a barrier wall in the Gaza Strip in August 2005. This painting is startling because he drew the graffiti of young kids and the landscape so realistic by using the stencil technique. Banksy give us the warning for dangerous situation going in the Middle East by the subject, origins and mediums in the painting ‘Beach Boys’.<br />The subjects of this painting are two young boys wearing short pants. Their outfit simply shows that how children can be carefree. Children usually play the things that they see on their surroundings. They don’t often care about whether things are dangerous and they can transform them into toys. In this way, the painting shows the innocence of children and their desire to have fun. In addition, their half-naked bodies signify children’s innocence as they were exposed because children’s minds are usually pure and straightforward. Additionally, in the painting, the things in the sand buckets are actually rubble but not sand. In this way, the artist shows that children don’t know about the real situation between Palestine and Israel, but they will be affected the most when war breaks. In addition, rubble symbolizes that the children are in the dangerous situation. This is because rubble is tough and sharp unlike sand which is soft and smooth. Furthermore, the painting shows a hole on the wall which has an peaceful picture of a beach. The beach picture has wonderful colors unlike the children which are in black and white. People usually would see the beautiful beach first than the children. This represents that the problems surroundings the beach like the boys in the bad condition would be seen later. The painter wants to communicate that government doesn’t care about the problems with the children. <br />Banksy drew ‘Beach Boy’s in August 2005. At the time of painting, in July 2005, the conflict in the Middle East was very intense. There was a conflict between Palestine and Israel on constructing the West Bank barrier. Israel tried to build barrier in West Bank to prevent Palestinians suicide attacks. However, Palestinians protested against the barrier because it would block them from hospitals, families, schools and so on. The hint of this conflict can be seen in the painting ‘Beach Boys’. The beautiful landscape of the beach and the palm tree behind was partially peeled off and not the entire background. The landscape meant the peace but as it is peeled off, it is a sign of peace diminishing. Before the barrier problems came up, the Middle East was in peace. However, the conflict between Palestine and Israel was worsening. In the Middle East, there has been many wars between the Arabs and Israelis. Therefore, as Palestine is in the side of the Arabs, Banksy creates a warning to the war that may happen in the painting ‘Beach Boys’. In addition, as I consider,Banksy painted that painting on the Palestinian side of the wall to show his negation on barriers that separate humanity. He believes that barriers are not answers to conflict. Furthermore, the picture that children are collecting rubbles in the sand buckets evokes the image after the war that may happen. That can be the reason that children don’t have any clothing. Also, that can be why the beautiful landscape is peeled off. It signifies the dream or the hope of the children. However, as it has been cracked, we can realize that the war would break children’s dreams or hopes. Finally, the conflict between Palestine and Israel got more serious because of UN, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and the Arab League’s protest against the barrier. The wonderful canvas of the beach represents peace in the Middle East. However, as it is cracked, Banksy tries to warn people that the conflict between Palestine and Israel on the barrier would be possible to collapse peace in the Middle East.<br />Banksy has used stenciling to form the ‘Beach Boys’ painting. He has been known to produce his artwork with this trademark technique. By using stencils, He succeeded to create a vivid effect of the beach landscape in the painting. The landscape is the main important part of the painting as it signifies the peace, the hope and the dreams of children in the painting. Also, by the landscape, bad conditions and problems around innocent children could be revealed to the viewers in a better way as the beach image is greatly contrasting to the children in color. Stenciling allowed Banksy to use different colors of sprays and draw the landscape with colorful colors. As a result, he was able to make the beach landscape be easily recognized. Additionally, by using stencils, Banksy is able to produce art at a faster speed but is able to paint perfect drawings. Banksy art style is often done in a secret and quick way. Therefore, he needs to use stenciling to avoid conflicts with the area he is doing his painting with. Banksy graffiti stencils show off his artistic and creative skills and his designs in a fast and effective way. The successful completion of his stencils gives him maximum satisfaction on a lesser cost. <br />In the painting ‘Beach Boys’, Banksy is attempting to express his negative feeling on creating the barrier between Palestine and Israel. His painting shows his beliefs that barriers are not answer to the conflict of the countries. To create this opinion, the artist focused on showing the difference between the two sides, Israel having the advantage and Palestine having disadvantage. He is successful in creating the message of the bad effect of the barrier to Israel and Palestine. Banksy used colorful colors to illustrate the good life people could have in Israel and also showed gloomy colors to show the depressing life people in Palestine.<br />