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Life Arts    H4'ed 11/21/22

Some Suggestions for Banksy

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Banksy in Ukraine
Banksy in Ukraine
(Image by Ronald Douglas Frazier)
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Banksy's latest work, in Ukraine, must be a great lift to Ukrainians. He makes fun of President Putin being flipped by a kid and pictures an old granddad in his bathtub. In pictures of two gymnasts painted on bombed buildings, he contrasts human capacity for beauty with human capacity for destruction.

But when Banksy finishes his artistic sojourn through Ukraine, I hope he'll visit Washington and spray a few pictures on the walls of its white buildings, which would make a perfect canvas. Here are a few ideas for paintings.

For the wall of the State Department, a work entitled "The Negotiators." We see the pre-war negotiations between the United States and Russia. On one side of the table, we see Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, leaning forward on the table, a very serious expression on his face, his hands outstretched with the palms upwards: a gesture that verges on supplication. On the other side of the table, we see Secretary of State Antony Blinken grinning at his cell phone and showing something on its screen to the fellow beside him, who is cracking up laughing.

For the wall of The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a work entitled "The Plotters." Here we see an extraordinarily large work for Banksy, rising nearly two floors high. He seems to want people to take in some detail. It's a mural with a jagged line in between its two subjects, indicating, as comic books used to, a telephone connection between them. On one side is U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, though she looks several years younger here. On the other is former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, also a few years fitter and trimmer. Both are talking on cell phones. Nuland is sitting at her kitchen table with a fat plastic cup of a soft drink in her hand, straw sticking out, and we see a bit of the golden arches peeking from between her fingers. The lifeless wrappings of a Big Mac lay on the table before her, and beside that a pile of her famous homemade cookies. She is speaking at this moment, Pyatt listening, and we definitely see the letter F puckered on her lower lip. Pyatt is in an office chair in his study, legs crossed and propped on his desk, and he holds a martini -- yes, with olive -- daintily by the glass's stem, the very image of the elegant diplomat.

For the wall of the Pentagon, a work entitled "You idiot!" Here we see a three-star general talking on his desk phone, body launched over his desk, mouth jagged with rage. In the background, we see sections of the four NordStream pipelines. Two have one hole each, from which methane is bubbling out. A third has two holes, and the fourth is intact. We can understand his dismay.

For the wall of the White House Briefing Room, a work entitled "Dictator, Dictatee." We see two reporters, a man and a woman, in three-quarters profile. On one side of the picture we see the stage and the lower few inches of the White House press officer's lectern. The reporters are very intent on taking down quotes from the speaker; their fingers blur over the keyboards of their laptops. They are both in their early thirties, wonderfully good-looking, but what strikes us is how alike they are; they could be twins. The fellow's hair parted on the side, and the woman's hair falls lushly over her shoulders and curls together below her chin. Both wear watches, the man's a little fatter than the woman's. The man wears a tie, the woman's lapels are open, and both wear white shirts with tall collars and suit jackets of a dark color. And now we notice in the background, looking along the rows of reporters, that they are all repetitions, mere echoes, of those two reporters. That old rascal Banksy sure knows how to make a statement.

Lastly, for the wall of the White House, a work entitled "Greatness." Here we see President Kennedy giving his inaugural address, Vice President Johnson seated and squinting behind him. This painting has a caption, rare for Banksy: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."

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"A Legacy of Chains and Other Stories" is Philip Kraske's lastest book. It can be found at his website: www.philipkraske.com

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