Travel Inspiration

The guerilla graffiti artist, Banksy, is one of the most inspirational figures of modern times.

Banksy is one of those artists that remind you why it’s worth going on. Against the merciless waves of media mediocrity and conformist pop culture, his graffiti cuts through the dross and opens your eyes again to seeing the world anew.

But not only does he favour England with the surreal humour of Charles Manson images and rats cutting away circles in the pavement, Banksy is also a pioneer of guerilla art, making his subversive medium a vehicle for political expression.

Check out Banksy’s work on the ‘Security Wall’ in Palestine, for example, where he turns one of the world’s ugliest and most menacing barriers into a canvas for his imagination.

And neither is he limited to simple spray painting. Banksy took the world of guerilla art into three dimensions at Disneyland where he set up a Guantanamo bay exhibit which lasts a full 4 hours before the authorities cotton on.

Banksy broke all the rules and we love him just for that. Not content to wait for art galleries and museums to include his work, he walked in and pinned his own stuff up, some of which was allowed to remain.

And though he’s now published his work in nice, glossy books, he’s done his best to remain anonymous and seems to find the whole art world rather nauseous. After his work sold for high sums at one exhibition he updated his website with the picture of an auction house and the words:
I can’t believe you morons buy this shit

Maybe it’s all a clever ploy to get rich, maybe he’s just playing the crowd and making his career along the way, but we don’t think so. For Road Junky, Banksy is one of the most original souls out there.

Check out why:

Want to follow in Banksy’s footsteps and become a traveling guerilla artist?

Tom has been traveling non-stop since the age of 18 and co-founded Road Junky in 2004. Follow him @tomglaister

He’s the author of Hand to Mouth to India, an account of hitchhiking from England to India with no money and which will soon be rereleased by Road Junky Books.

Tales of a Road Junky featuring tales of breaking people out of jail in Delhi, selling fake Rolexes in Japan and other adventures in Israel and Brazil will be out later this year.

He also writes fiction for anyone who never really grew up and his latest novel is Bozo and the Storyteller – download the audio book for free or even buy a copy…

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