Urban Art Association

Banksy is now being used as a logo for the French far-right, by Deleted on Nov 17, 2016 14:30:40 GMT 1,
Article from Mashable this morning:

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has publicly unveiled her logo for the 2017 presidential campaign during a press briefing at her new Paris headquarters.

The offices at Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré — just 2 km from the presidential residence the Élysée — are decorated with cult pop figures like Clint Eastwood, Einstein and the Rolling Stones logo — all featuring a blue rose, the Le Pen symbol.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, the Front National (FN) HQ walls also featured a popular mural of British street artist Banksy, "Rage, Flower Thrower," which shows a man wearing a kerchief and baseball cap throwing a bouquet of flowers (blue, in the Le Pen version).

Banksy's artworks have often denounced the mistreatment of migrants and refugees at Calais refugee camp.

In 2015, he created a series of works in the so-called "Jungle", which was dismantled in October, including one which depicted Steve Jobs in a black turtleneck clutching an early Mac computer and a bag, as a reminder his father was a Syrian migrant.

Materials from Banksy's Dismaland theme park were sent to the Calais camp and used for new shelters. The famous sign was altered to read "Dismal Aid" as a reference to the flood of goodwill directed to the camp.

In general, Banksy's public activism and artworks seem pretty much at odds with Le Pen's anti-migrant, xenophobic and nationalist agenda.

According to The Lab, Le Pen and her advisors initially didn't seem to know who Banksy was, then they tried to downplay it. "It's a diversion. We can all make diversions. Why not? I invite all netizens to create other diversions and we're going to put them up in the HQ," she said.

Le Pen adviser Sébastien Chenu told the Huffington Post that Banksy was chosen for his "anti-conformist side" and "because we are free people and we want to blow this wind of freedom."

Mashable has reached out to Banksy's representative for comment.

Article from Mashable this morning:

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has publicly unveiled her logo for the 2017 presidential campaign during a press briefing at her new Paris headquarters.

The offices at Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré — just 2 km from the presidential residence the Élysée — are decorated with cult pop figures like Clint Eastwood, Einstein and the Rolling Stones logo — all featuring a blue rose, the Le Pen symbol.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, the Front National (FN) HQ walls also featured a popular mural of British street artist Banksy, "Rage, Flower Thrower," which shows a man wearing a kerchief and baseball cap throwing a bouquet of flowers (blue, in the Le Pen version).

Banksy's artworks have often denounced the mistreatment of migrants and refugees at Calais refugee camp.

In 2015, he created a series of works in the so-called "Jungle", which was dismantled in October, including one which depicted Steve Jobs in a black turtleneck clutching an early Mac computer and a bag, as a reminder his father was a Syrian migrant.

Materials from Banksy's Dismaland theme park were sent to the Calais camp and used for new shelters. The famous sign was altered to read "Dismal Aid" as a reference to the flood of goodwill directed to the camp.

In general, Banksy's public activism and artworks seem pretty much at odds with Le Pen's anti-migrant, xenophobic and nationalist agenda.

According to The Lab, Le Pen and her advisors initially didn't seem to know who Banksy was, then they tried to downplay it. "It's a diversion. We can all make diversions. Why not? I invite all netizens to create other diversions and we're going to put them up in the HQ," she said.

Le Pen adviser Sébastien Chenu told the Huffington Post that Banksy was chosen for his "anti-conformist side" and "because we are free people and we want to blow this wind of freedom."

Mashable has reached out to Banksy's representative for comment.