Springtime conjures up images of fresh grass, flowing fields and blooming flowers with trees dripping with blossom and days get longer. With its two shades of green, the seminal Bomb Middle England represents a return to outdoor pursuits in nicer weather. The artwork depicts three middle class, older ladies playing a traditional game of bowls and is executed in the artist’s famous stencil style. Behind the lead image are two, strong green bands inspired by the neat, green grass on which the game is played. Humorously the artist replaces the bowls with bombs flowing across the length of the lawn. Lit and ready to explode, the bombs add menace amongst the serene group of elderly players. The tension within the piece is a superb example of how the artist draws from daily life and twists the imagery. As with many works, Bomb Middle England can be seen as a socio-political commentary where the artist explores the indifference of the middle class. Blindly tossing bombs not bowls, they are blind to the destruction and chaos that they have the capacity to wreak.
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It’s difficult to think of Spring without thinking of Easter. Indeed, a seminal date within christianity, Easter is often seen to herald in this cooling rejuvenating month. Christ with Shopping Bags is Banksy’s brilliant take on the crucifixion scene - subverting it with overt references to consumerism and capitalism. The artwork shows a crucified Jesus agonisingly holding shopping bags in his outstretched hands that buckle under the weight of the gifts contained inside. Christmas is referenced in the image with a candy cane and the Mickey Mouse ears poking out of the heavy bags. The scene can be read as to how the festive season and celebration of Jesus’ birth has lost its original and truest religious and moral meaning as society places more importance on gifts and shopping rather than hope, forgiveness and salvation. We see the modern world building up new gods in the consumption of brands and goods to the detriment of spiritual growth. Jesus and the shopping bags are melting in Banksy’s recreation of the Crucifixion portraying how consumerism temporarily fills a satisfaction, but the satisfaction does not last.
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April showers are a common phenomena in the Northern Hemisphere and the famous saying can be traced back to the 1500s' English poet Thomas Tusser. Back then, he wrote “Sweet April showers do spring May Flowers”. In England, the month of April sees weather swings that range from blissful blue skies to cold, cutting rain. Created in 2008 in the Marigny district of New Orleans as a critical thrust towards the Bush administration’s response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans NOLA shows a young girl (representing innocence and powerlessness) who is attempting to shield herself from a storm and rainfall. However, the rain itself is not coming from the outside but is emanating from the very umbrella that she needs for her protection. Reaching out from underneath the umbrella and realising the rain is on the inside, she shows a confused and shocked expression.
As fragrant flowers begin to burst open, much to the chagrin of hayfever sufferers, flowers are possibly one of the most commonly thought of representations of Spring. Holding a bouquet of flowers instead of a molotov cocktail, Love is in the Air is one of Banksy’s most famous images and first appeared along the wall that divides Palestine and Israel. Visually, the piece is characteristic of the artist’s street stencil graffiti style and, in typical Banksy aplomb, features a contrasting image that can be interpreted as playful as well as more serious. Central to the image the figure, silhouetted in black and dressed as a militant, wears a baseball cap and bandana to disguise their identity in a pose commonly associated with the throwing of a petrol bomb. However, the “Banksy twist” reverses this notion as the figure throws a bouquet of flowers.
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