During my visit home, I met up with a few of my former students downtown for a little gallery exploring in Chelsea. Many of the galleries were closed for the holidays, and there didn't seem to be that many patrons to go around between the few that remained open - except at the Banksy show (see last month's post).

We found the tiny Vanina Holasek Gallery to be packed when we got there in the early afternoon, and saw crowds waiting to enter when we passed it again later that day.

Why?

Certainly Banksy's notoriety for unexpected provocative images both on the street and in museums make him a popular figure, but how popular would he be if his images carried no weight?  Or on the other hand, how much would the message of his work resonate from inside a gallery show (present context notwithstanding). 

What makes Banksy's art interesting is that the content and context of his artwork are interdependent. 

You can see these slides as a a Flickr set here.