Discussion of “Girl with Balloon” by Banksy

1) What is the CONTENT of this piece? What is the picture of? Why do you think that Banksy chose the subject of a girl with a balloon for a painting that will disappear?

The painting “Girl with Balloon,” perhaps, is the main artwork created by Banksy. He first painted it in 2002, and he used a bridge on the River Thames as a canvas for his masterpiece. Next to the picture, the artist wrote the following very meaningful words: “There is always hope”. Just in four years later, Banksy decided to paint the same pattern in acrylic on canvas, making this picture so popular today.

Exploring the content of this piece and its message to the audience, it can be said that the painting depicts a girl whose silhouette is painted on canvas with black paints on a white background. The girl sadly watches at her bright red heart-shaped balloon, realizing that it is flying away into the distance. The girl holds out her hand to this balloon, and it looks like an attempt to keep something elusive, but very meaningful. The shape of the heart, which is the only color spot of the painting, means innocence, dreams, hopes and love. Moreover, besides the fact that the balloon is a toy of a child, it shows the fragility of childhood (Grovier, 2017). The image of a girl letting go her balloon suggests that innocence and child’s dreams, as well as faith into something good, can easily be lost.

Considering Banksy’s choice of the subject of a girl with a balloon for a painting that will disappear, it can be supposed that the artist includes the criticism of modern society in this picture. To explain, Banksy believes that society makes children grow up too quickly, and in his many works, he also points out the fact that children often become innocent victims of wars, various disasters and negative influence of corrupted society. In this case, the picture is a metaphor, perhaps it demonstrates the end of childhood and the loss of innocence, or it also reminds adults about their childhood dreams and inability to follow own desires, loosing their “balloons”.

2) What is the FORM of this piece? I.e. what can you say about the style of the picture? Banksy is known for using techniques borrowed from graffiti in his art. What do you think this technique does? How does it add to or complicate how we think about the content of the piece?

Observing the form of this piece, it is possible to mention that the picture is made in the technique of acrylic and aerosol paints on canvas. The image was applied on the finished stencil. Its size is 101 by 78 centimeters. There is a signature and inscription of the artist on the reverse side of the canvas. The gilded massive frame is an integral element of the work. It was chosen by Banksy himself (Carter, 2018).

The style of the picture is similar to graffiti art, and is understandable for all people because it is a simple object with deep meaning. Graffiti’s aim is not to impose some definite opinion, but to awaken the interest of viewers not only to the depicted object, but also to its long or short story, its meaning and social significance. It means that graffiti as an art direction is able to influence a person and enrich one’s inner world with new thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Using the previous explanations, it is possible to assume that graffiti style of art presentation complicated the way we think about the content of the piece. It means that it turns a picture of “Girl with Balloon” into a statement of social reality, when something elusive are a part of human life and it can either disappear or stay not far from our life depending on many factors. Thus, this is the fruit of mixing different artistic movements, which carries a very important social message. This picture is about a necessity to remove even golden frames, not only in real life, but also in own mind, to open eyes to the world around, its good and bad sides and begin to act without the desire of being frustrated about some lost dreams and hopes. Every new day is able to bring new ideas and energy for changes, and it is just important to realize this fact and begin to act immediately.

3) Peggy Phelan defines performance as a piece of art that “becomes itself through disappearance” (146). “Performance’s only life is in the present,” she writes. “Performance cannot be saved, documented, or otherwise participate in the circulation of representations of representations: once it does so, it becomes something other than performance” (146). Is Banksy’s artwork a performance according to Phelan’s definition? Why/why not?

For the purpose to try to answer this question, it should be noted that even a simple enumeration of topics related to the documentation of performance is significant. In such a context, many factors and components play a very important role. For instance, the ratio of reality and representation, archive and memory as conventional structures, media theory and the post-medial state of art, the problem of authenticity and presence in performance arts, and finally, the institutionalization of performance can be hardly interpreted in one right way. On the one hand, according to Peggy Phelan, there is a great myth about performance as the art of the moment, ephemeral, momentary and elusive, and as a result – not for sale. On the other hand, there is a real practice of institutionalized performance with all the consequences: orders, exhibitions, archives and catalogs.

Taking into account the thoughts above, it can be said that Banksy’s artwork is a performance, but not in its pure form. It seems that a pure form of every phenomenon is rather a scientific term, while life makes its own adjustments. Banksy is a person who works with a special type of art, which is very difficult to isolate from space, while he is trying to supplement this space in one or another way into modern reality. Banksy’s art is ephemeral by its essence, that is, his work is somehow doomed to disappear, this is the art of quick response, quick invasion. In such a way, this theme of frailty works of art in Banksy’s graffiti – this is also the plot of his art. In other words, the very fact of disappearance of the picture of “Girl with Balloon” was a great performance, and it is not about shock of the audience, money or other things, which can be associated with the process, it is about real life, new ideas, solutions and great impact on human minds and understanding of the world around.

4) The buyer who pledged to buy the painting for over 1 million pounds decided to go through with the purchase even after the painting was partially destroyed. What do you think this person was buying? Does the expense of this artwork complicate Phelan’s idea that performance can’t be commodified? Why/why not?

Using previous answers as a basis for the answer to this last question, it can be noted that the buyer who pledged to buy the painting made a great purchase because it was not even the sale of the work itself, but the historical moment of its destruction. Such an interpretation of the purchase might increase the price for the picture, or it is better to say “pieces of the picture”. However, the buyer also pledged to buy not only the moment of destruction, but also even a moment of a creation (or it is better to say the birth) of a new piece of art.

Naturally, the expense of this artwork has somehow complicated Phelan’s idea that performance cannot be commodified because it is impossible to buy a moment. For the purpose to explain, the exchange of emotions and states between the participants of the performance, the transformation of the participants into a community, the physical contact between them – all these actions are possible only in a “live format”, that is, in a situation of physical co-presence (McHugh, 2014). In this context, the very act of purchase and further destruction of the painting is similar to performance, while the piece of art as a commodity is still debatable issue. On the one hand, the painting is a physical substance and it is possible to see it and touch it. It is a documented thing that was purchased. On the other hand, nobody can measure the level of emotions of all those people who see this painting, their ideas and reactions just at the moment, when Banksy’s shredded “Girl with Balloon” gained its new form and conveyed its idea to those people who participated at the auction personally, or have an opportunity to watch this video on the Internet.

Works Cited

Carter, F. “Banksy’s Shredded ‘Girl With Balloon’ Has Been Renamed And Will Be On Show This Weekend.” Forbes, Oct. 11, 2018. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/felicitycarter/2018/10/11/banksys-shredded-artwork-girl-with-balloon-has-been-renamed-and-will-be-on-show-this-weekend/#67603661669f

Banksyfilm. “Shredding the Girl and Balloon – The Director’s half cut.” Youtube, Oct. 17, 2018. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxkwRNIZgdY&t=14s

McHugh, G. Post Internet. Lulu Press, Inc, 2014.

Grovier, K. “How a balloon can be an emblem of hope.” BBC, Dec. 2017. Available at http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171215-how-a-balloon-can-be-an-emblem-of-hope

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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