Valentine’s Day Mascara: When a Strong Message Goes Beyond its Own Boundaries
Last week, on Valentine’s Day, the anonymous street artist Banksy shocked the citizens of Margate with a new artwork entitled Valentine’s Day Mascara that was created overnight with a dark yet humorous twist. But, just as quickly as it was installed, part of it was removed. So, should Banksy’s street art be left alone and coexist with its urban environment? Or is it correct that greater actions are taken to preserve its integrity?
Valentine’s Day Mascara by Banksy.
Valentine’s Day Mascara portrays a smiling woman dressed in the costume of a 1950s housewife, complete with a gingham apron and matching shirtwaist dress, a short coiled hairstyle, and yellow rubber gloves caught in the act of pushing her husband into a real freezer. As is typical of Banksy, they strategically used the surrounding environment - in this instance, the pre-existing freezer standing against a decaying white-coated brick wall - as the backdrop for the comedic scene.
But as one looks closer, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that this is not an image to be laughed at. Although the woman is smiling, it is not a grin of joy, but rather it is sarcastic, cunning, and painfully reveals a chipped tooth. Adding to this list of injuries, she also appears to have a black eye. Looking at these details with consideration, what is then revealed is that she is a victim of domestic abuse taking revenge on her abuser, not a housewife fed up with her husband coming home late from work.
Although the coastal resort town has begun a cultural regeneration journey, with the addition of Turner Contemporary, Tracey Emin’s Margate Studios, and Dreamland amusement park, it is still one of the poorest regions in Kent. More importantly, how the region has a high rate of domestic abuse cases, with nearly 38,500 reports filed in the last year. Thus, Banky’s sordid tale is a pertinent reminder of the existence of domestic abuse in the area.
Valentine’s Day Mascara and the removed freezer.
If it was not clear that this was completed by Banksy’s hand from the profound yet comedic, an Instagram post of the artwork on his Instagram page confirmed this assumption. However, by the afternoon, the local town council had already begun dismantling the work, removing the pre-existing freezer and other detritus found near the wall.
However, the Thanet District Council have stated that this is not permanent, and the freezer will be returned once the piece has been protected from vandalism or the natural environment. Currently, the freezer has been replaced with a basket, and the artwork has been protected with a somewhat distracting and ugly plastic cover. Acting in this way, Margate’s community hopes to preserve the artwork itself and the vital message it strives to communicate in the long term.
Valentine’s Day Mascara and the reply of the local community after the freezer’s removal.
Debatable preservation situations and strategies aside, the overall meaning of this artwork is complicated. The white brick wall allowed the Bristol-born artist to transmit a deep and strong message on such a public, urban canvas, and the artwork served as the median for possible worldwide public communication. In turn, rather than the message being either unmistakable or even private, it is subtle, sombre and highly public.
When talking about street art is always fascinating to remember the echo of the words that the artist Harlice Worley pronounced about the fact that people see street artists as a crowd of illiterate non-entities. In fact, they are absolutely not. Street artists have the power to communicate powerful and impactful messages in public spaces in either a transparent or hidden manner. More specifically, the environment and circumstances for this medium are unique in that it allows artists to reach a wider community rather than only the community that appreciates art inside museums. Moreover, they can bring their critical messages outside the museum sphere and dialogue with every kind of human being, wanted or unwanted.
Although Street Art has been delineated by the Street Art pioneer John Fekner with a broad definition of it as ‘all art on the street that is not graffiti,’ [1] the movement that become so in early 2000 is derived from Graffiti Writing, and sometimes the genres still blur. However, Banksy's artwork surpasses it in both substance and form. Even if it isn't stated clearly in the artwork's visual component, Banksy's street art and (if you will) his gallery art is an extension of the issues he calls into question. By using stereotyped subjects from both the media and art history world, Banksy faces society’s problems by going underground in search of a better world. As a result, Banksy and his art become a unicum, creating a ‘total work of art,’ a ‘gesamtkunstwerk,’ in which he uses the intangible aura of his strongly recognisable visual language to convey profound messages to encourage people to reflect on important issues.
Ultimately, whether one likes or dislikes Banksy, his street art or the public manner in which he addresses issues surrounding domestic abuse, Valentine’s Day Mascara is a poignant, yet light-hearted, reminder about an all too often forgotten tragedy within the fabric of our modern world.
Footnotes:
Lewisohn and Chalfant, Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution, 23.
Sources:
Blanché, Ulrich. Banksy, Urban Art In A Material World. Marburg: Tectum Verlag, 2016
Lewisohn, Cedar, and Henry Chalfant. Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution. London: Tate Publishing, 2009.
Beatrice Gallello
En Plein Air Editor, MADE IN BED