Essential: Banksy

Banksy
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Banksy is the pseudonym of a British graffiti artist, political activist and painter whose identity is unconfirmed. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humor with graffiti done in a distinctive stenciling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.
Banksy's works have dealt with an array of political and social themes, including anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism, and existentialism. Additionally, the components of the human condition that his works commonly critique are greed, poverty, hypocrisy, boredom, despair, absurdity, and alienation.


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Grace Cavalieri

Art Experience: Grace Cavalieri

Grace Cavalieri
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Grace Cavalieri is a poet and playwright who has published 15 volumes of poetry and more than 20 plays. She continues to actively write and publish in Maryland. Cavalieri produces a weekly radio show at the Library of Congress entitled "The Poet and the Poem," heard nationally on public stations around the country. Her poems evoke strong visuals and deep emotions. A sample of her work can be found here.


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Grace Cavalieri

Essential: Shag (Josh Agle)

Shag (Josh Agle)
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Josh Agle (better known as Shag, a contraction of the last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last) is a painter, illustrator and designer working in southern California.
His paintings celebrate consumerism and consumption on vividly colored, sharply rendered panels; the characters drink, smoke and eat in lavish, stylish surroundings. Most of his paintings are set in the middle of a story or situation -- characters are interacting and reacting to each other and to outside events. Agle doesn't offer too many clues about the stories, preferring that the viewer create his or her own narratives to fit the situations.


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Grace Cavalieri