Standard Bearer of the Apocalypse: On the Occasion of Banksy's Sculpture in London

New work by a mysterious artist Banksy Just after it was placed in a public space in the English capital, it caused, judging by the media interest and reactions on social networks, a real global sensation.

What is the special or attractive feature of this work, called Blinded by the flag? It should be noted that the artist's interventions in public space generally go beyond the boundaries of an individual work of art and enter the zone of a media event. The aforementioned sculpture, installed in Waterloo Square in London, which is particularly significant given the historical significance of British imperial power, confirms the artist's high international status. The sculpture exists simultaneously as a physical object and as a globally distributed image, as a concrete form, as a narrative that centrifugally expands beyond the center of its own presence. It is precisely in this binary that space opens up for a double reading or interpretation of Banksy's work. At first glance, this is a banal sculptural theme. The figure of the flag bearer is caught in motion when the fluttering fabric of the flag carried by the wind obscures her face. There is nothing inherently symbolic in this realistic scene. Therefore, what the sculpture depicts can be understood as a mere registration of a moment, as a photographic frame translated into a three-dimensional form. It is precisely this possibility of literal reading that brings the work into the delicate field of banality. However, it is precisely from this banality that the second, disturbing dimension of the work begins to develop. The obscured face of the man in the suit ceases to be just a consequence of the wind blowing in the opposite direction from the direction in which the figure of the stranger is moving. It becomes a kind of sign. The man who “looks through the flag” can also be interpreted as a subject who is not blinded by the guiding idea, as the title suggests, but is completely merged with it. He consciously looks at the flag. The man feels and thinks about it equally. He lives its symbol. The man is an embodied idea. Then, in this state, the differences between views and beliefs disappear. The man no longer sees the world as it is, but rather sees it through the idea that defines him. For some, this work might give the impression that it is the embodiment of a humorous political caricature in three-dimensional form, given the possible connotations of current social events. Banksy's sculpture has something in its morphology and expression from that creative gene inherited from socialist realist revolutionary sculpture, which is reflected in the clarity of the dynamic form, in the decisive gesture and faith in the idea as the driving force of history. (By the way, a certain English woman commented on her FB profile: "God, I was afraid it was a statue of a revolutionary Lenin”). While historical examples of such expression tended to affirm a collective ideal, in this sculpture that language appears in a destabilized form. Also, in perceiving the sculpture, it may be unclear whether the figure of a man celebrates his own dedication or whether his complete identification with the idea is already a sign of the loss of the necessary distance.

Additional tension is created by the figure stepping out of the pedestal. In the traditional sense, the pedestal for a sculptural work forms the boundary that separates the symbolic space of art from the reality in which the sculpture is located. In Banksy's work, the man crosses this boundary, oversteps it. He has stepped forward decisively. With his right outstretched hand, he firmly holds the banner, while his left, tightly clenched fist, emphasizes his firm determination. This unwavering movement, the fearless step, of the man in the buttoned suit is experienced, as most interpret it, as a fall into the abyss, as a rush into inevitable defeat. But, although it may sound paradoxical, this bold step is also equally convincing as a continuation of his planned path. A transition from representation to action. Because a possible physical fall from a position, figuratively and literally speaking, is not necessarily a defeat for the idea of ​​the one who is guided by it. The fall can strengthen it, not discourage it. Therefore, in the figure's step, the idea is not only shown, it begins its realization.

In the sculpture, it is particularly significant how the flag is treated. It is devoid of any markings. This gives it the appearance of universality, as it is not tied to a specific nation, ideology or historical context. It is of particular importance that its colour matches the colour of the wearer's body and clothing. This chromatic sameness produces a special effect of depersonalisation. The figure and the symbol are no longer separate but form a single, disturbing, uniformed whole. The flag ceases to be a symbol that is worn, it becomes an extension of the body, the body becomes an extension of an idea. But there is no neutrality in this colourlessness. On the contrary, it carries a certain coldness and absence that can seem frightening. What should represent identity is transformed into anonymity and the power of the gesture into mechanical determination. It is precisely in this combination of bold movement and the deprivation of individual characteristics that a premonition of something resembling a futuristic wasteland appears. The energy of action is preserved, but the meaning that drives it is opaquely unique, indistinguishable compact. In this sense, the realism of the sculpture itself gains an unexpected dimension. Its palpable almost academic correctness and “realism” of style does not lead to greater clarity but, paradoxically, produces the opposite effect - a certain kind of surreal discomfort. In this sense, it is possible to establish a connection between Banksy's sculpture and the poetics of the surrealist painter. Rene Magritte where precisely the precisely depicted reality becomes a source of enigma. As in Magritte, the human face covered with cloth does not hide identity in order to protect it, but to call it into question. Here, however, it seems that the face is not just obscured, but that personality has already given way to a symbol. The Banksy figure we are looking at thus takes on the characteristics of a man as an impersonal tribune, the bearer of gesture but not individuality, the actor of movement but not a personal, authentic voice. The figure does not strive for something specific but precisely something impersonal. It is a complete identification with an idea that erases the difference between subject and sign. In this sense, the figure can be understood as a contemporary standard-bearer of the apocalypse, not in a spectacular catastrophic sense but as the bearer of an absolute conviction whose consequences remain open. His “blind clairvoyance”, the paradoxical ability to see clearly precisely because he is completely immersed in an idea - is at the same time a source of strength and potential threat. In the context of the current, politically charged perception of the audience, Banksy's work gains additional complexity. The observer often does not enter into his ambivalence, but seeks or sees in him confirmation of already formed attitudes. The sculpture thus becomes a kind of projection field. For some it can be a criticism of ideological blindness, for others an affirmation of a firm belief, for others only a formal almost banal situation. That's why I see Banksy's sculpture as a flag bearer balancing between banality and apocalypse. It is precisely in this tension between the trivial and the prophetic that the interestingness of the provocative work of the mysterious graffiti artist lies.

Despite all that has been said, the work of the controversial artist fails to completely avoid the aforementioned banality, which precisely produces discomfort by leveling trivial scenes and profound metaphors. Perhaps this is the key quality of this work. The observer of Banksy's sculpture is positioned between its two meanings. For the banality of depersonalized universality and apocalyptic anticipation suggestively coexist.