Banksy Tattoos Combine Graffiti with Body Art

Banksy is a British artist who is infamous for his striking graffiti artworks. His graffiti often has a deeper meaning, expressing Banksy's socio-political views in a powerfully public medium; street art. Banksy graffiti has become so popular that it is now a popular subject in tattoo designs.

Banksy's Girl with Butterflies Tattoo
One of Banksy's most popular graffiti art works is the image of a young girl in a dress holding a gun to her head. A swarm of butterflies is scattered across the design as though they have exploded from the girl's head. Banksy uses stencils to create his street art, which gives his images clarity and a strong silhouette. These design aspects translate well into tattoo designs; giving the tattoo an instant appeal.

Above: The red butterflies stand in stark contrast to the solid black areas used to create the girl. Like all of Banksy's graffiti designs, the girl blowing butterflies combines aspects of human nature such as hope, violence, beauty and death. [source]

Banksy's Girl with a Heart Balloon

Banksy often carries a theme through a series of images, expressing the same idea in a number of ways. Like Banksy's girl with butterflies graffiti piece, his girl with a heart balloon design incorporates aspects of humanity such as innocence, hope and loss.

Above: Another of Banksy's graffiti art works that uses black and red as the color scheme. The simplicity of the design and the innocent nature of the subject make Banksy's girl with a heart balloon a popular graffiti tattoo design choice. [source]

Banksy's Man throwing Flowers Tattoo

This Banksy graffiti piece of a man throwing flowers has become an internationally renowned art work. The stencilled graffiti shows a man with a scarf covering his mouth, poised to throw a bunch of flowers. Exposure to news networks means that the brain expects a man in this pose to be holding an object of violence such as a petrol bomb. Instead, Banksy has chosen to have the man throw a bunch of flowers - an object that is generally associated with peace and beauty.

Above: Banksy's powerful graffiti art work makes an equally powerful statement when tattooed onto skin. The large area of solid black ink adds drama to the graffiti tattoo while balancing out the detailed delicacy of the flowers. [source]

Tattoo of Banksy's Rat Painting a Heart

Rats are a recurring theme in Banksy's graffiti art. While most people view rats with disgust, Banksy has chosen to humanize rats by giving them human characteristics. In his popular graffiti piece of a rat painting a heart, Banksy has personified the rat by putting it in a human situation (showing it wielding a paintbrush), and insinuating that the rat has human emotions such as hope and yearning (expressed by the use of a heart as the subject matter of the rat's painting).

Above: The dark area on top of the rat's head is reminiscent of a beret, a hat that has often been worn by French bohemian artists. Whether this was intentional or not, the effect remains the same; adding yet more humanity to a creature that is often reviled by humans. [source]

Graffiti Tattoo of Banksy's Jesus Christ Christmas Shopping

Banksy's graffiti art works often comment on social, political or religious issues. By portraying Jesus Christ in the crucifixion pose holding shopping bags filled with Christmas presents, Banksy has highlighted the disassociation between religion and religious practices.

Above: Banksy's designs often seem both well thought out and spontaneous in their construction. In his graffiti art work of Jesus Christ Christmas shopping, the degradation of religion through materialism is expressed in the way that the design appears to be melting. This may have been a spontaneous addition to the design to drive the message home. [source]

With their strong lines and powerful meanings, Banksy's graffiti art works translate easily into tattoos designs. Banksy has done more than any other modern artist to inspire curiosity and criticism in the younger generation, and is the first graffiti artist to have won such international acclaim.

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Street Art goes Skin Deep with Graffiti Tattoos

Graffiti and Tattoos are art forms that have existed for centuries, as scrawls on the walls of Roman baths and tribal tattoos that mark coming-of-age ceremonies and personal achievements. It is only in the last few decades that street art and tattoos have taken on distinct style characteristics that set the apart from other art forms. Now these two rebellious genres have combined to produce graffiti tattoos.

Spraycan

The spraycan is a symbol of graffiti and street art, being the most common tool used by street artists. Its form is simple and its silhouette recognizable, even when morphed by the artist into a characterful artwork.

Above: This graffiti tattoo depicts both a spraycan and a gas mask (used by some graffiti artists to prevent the inhalation of paint fumes) 

Above: This graffiti piece uses a combination of geometric shapes and curves to create a visually interesting urban art-styled tattoo design. The colorful tattoo inks used in this piece, along with the repetition of recognizable shapes such as arrows, gives the tattoo a friendly appeal.



Cityscapes

Urban art is often inspired by the environment in which they are found - cities and transport routes. Using perspective to create visual interest, graffiti artists often incorporate city objects such as buildings, buses, trains and skylines.

Above: This tattoo shows a train bearing graffiti art. Trains are not only subject matter for graffiti artists; often they are also a challenging, illegal canvas for street artists to work upon. 

Above: This graffiti tattoo design combines the words, "New York" with a depiction of the famous city's skyline. The stars used in this artwork further add to the patriotic nature of this tattoo, as stars are a part of the American flag. More Patriotic New York Tattoos

Graffiti Lettering and Alphabets

Although there is no one distinct lettering style for graffiti, there is a variety of fonts that are popularly used by street artists. Graffiti alphabet designs are often warped, with key parts of the letter's anatomy exaggerated or decorated. Depth is created by giving the letters shadows and 3-D shapes.

Above: This graffiti font uses serif in some places, but not in others, proof that the artist is not bound by the rules of consistency usually applied to font design. The capitilized letters bend is if a force or pressure has been applied to them, a technique popularly used in graffiti lettering. The finished result is a graffiti tattoo that spells out the word, "faith".

Above: Some graffiti fonts are harder to read than others, which turns the artwork into a puzzle. The cryptic graffiti tattoos above are indecipherable.

Banksy Graffiti Tattoos

Working with stencil and spray paint, graffiti artist Banksy creates attractive, often controversial street artworks. His urban art mysteriously appears overnight, thrilling British graffiti art fans with both their content and message.

Above: Banksy's graffiti artwork of a girl shooting herself in the head, releasing a swarm of butterflies is tattooed on this girl's hip and belly. Banksy designs work well with the limitations of tattoo art, being clear and simple with elegant silhouettes. 

Above: A graffiti tattoo of the world famous Banksy design, of a man in a fighting pose, throwing a bunch of flowers. Banksy's graffiti art often shows startling contrasts between ideas, in this case, a symbol of love or peace combined with a man in a violent posture.

Above: Graffiti artist Banksy often uses rats as a subject in his artwork, to convey a message about human society. Banksy's rats are highly stylized, and have become a signature of sorts for this graffiti artist.

Graffiti and tattoos are often viewed as being rebellious in nature, as street art is illegal, and tattoos leave a permanent mark on the skin. As a form of self-expression, both styles are quickly gaining popularity, especially as a combination of the two in the form of graffiti tattoos.



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