Jacob Trout

Instructor Sarah Haak

ENG 1510

12 September 2017

Analysis in Five Moves

The image Flower Thrower by the anonymous artist Banksy is a work of graffiti art

painted along the side of a building, depicted by the paint chippings and worn away background

paint at the bottom of the image. The foreground of the image shows what appears to be a man

wearing light colored pants and a black jacket with a bandana covering the lower half of his

otherwise grimacing face and a backwards snapback hat over his head. The individual has his

knees bent, left arm extended forward and right hand arced behind him in a throwing motion, as

if he were throwing a Molotov cocktail. All of this is painted on a white background with the rest

of the image done with dripping black paint save the anomalous object held in the individuals

retracted hand: a bouquet of flowers. The flowers are multicolored, ranging from yellow, to red,

blue, and green, contrasting the rest of the image not only in the pallet choice but also the

difference in the action versus the object. It is suggested that this work is older or worn due to the

smeared paint near the bottom of the painting.

There are several things about this image that stand out. The color scheme used draws

attention simply by being the two most opposite colors as well as the black paint slightly

dripping down making it seem almost as if it were raining in the scene of the painting. Going

from this, rain has many significances in literature, such as despondence or even that of a

rebellious nature. Often too, which is perhaps a more fitting inference would be the importance
of the actions of a character or in this case, the focus of the painting while disregarding the

inordinate tone of the world. An easy yet clich example of this is at the end of a cheesy generic

soap opera when the two lovers embrace one another in the rain, showing their love despite the

somber environment theyre in, and this image, while very different can be likened to the

situation with the lovers. Along with the monotone colors, the quasi fire bomb is colored, setting

it far apart from the rest of the piece of art in terms of distinctness. The flowers being colored is

important simply because its one of the first things that draws the viewers attention in the

image, being different from not only the individual and background but also the rest of the

flowers as they are different colors. Setting aside the color scheme, the presence of the flowers

themselves are important similarly to the distinct colors as they draw attention away from the

rest of the image, being a complete anomaly. Focusing on the individual, they clearly want their

identity hidden so they remain anonymous due to the large jacket, hat, and bandana covering the

lower half of their face. Similarities can be drawn between this individual and the creator of the

work, as both are anonymous in what they do. While Banksy is an artist and the character in his

work does not necessarily represent himself, artists and writers do everything for a reason and

every little detail matters, Banksy may have attempted to draw similarities between himself and

this piece for the sake a form of signature. What makes this more peculiar, however, is the

angered look of the individual as they are preparing to throw an object that wouldnt normally

invoke a feeling of vexation in someone, as flowers are viewed as kind and beautiful, or even in

some cases a sign of peace, the olive branch being a prime example of this. Though, this image

creates an absolute binary as the action being done does not appear to be one of peace. A slighter

feature would be the paint chipped away at the bottom of the individuals leg, suggesting it

happened after the image was made as the black paint is absent there, thus fitting into the overall
image of the rough character and the seemingly dangerous setting. Going hand and hand with

that would be the smeared paint around the other leg and the rubbed or washed away paint near

the bottom of the piece, pointing toward yet another example of the rough nature of the scene.

While perhaps not his magnum opus, the Flower Thrower is one of Banksys more

famous pieces of art that many are familiar with, meaning that countless theories on its purpose

exist. For example, this could be a silly quarrel between an ex-boyfriend and current boyfriend in

which the current lover wanted to demonstrate to the previous that his presence wasnt welcome

anymore and his gift should be returned to him. Second, and more serious, this work could be a

statement about the aggressions against homosexuals, demonstrating that those who throw hate,

or bombs, should instead throw love, or flowers. This is accurate as of its date of creation in the

mid 2000s, before such progressions were achieved for freedom of sexual orientation compared

to today, as well as the riots regarding homosexual marriage. Lastly, Banksy could have simply

been making a statement toward the world as a whole, suggesting that we needed to listen to the

old saying Make Love, Not War. This would make sense as the tragedy of 9/11 had occurred

only four years prior, and following that the world plunged head first into the middle east,

increasing the tensions of the world tremendously. While Banksy may never come out to

specifically reveal the purpose of his work, it is likely Flower Thrower is a simple political

statement regarding the malevolent nature of the world during the time of its publication.

Judging from Banksys other works, the common theme in his most popular pieces are

something regarding politics or the despondent state of the world and its people.
 Works Cited

Banksy. Flower Thrower. 2005. Wall and Peace, Jerusalem.

My paper, Analysis in Five Moves, was a major essay regarding a piece of art that had

to be summarized briefly with a longer analysis and potential explanations for what the purpose

of the art was as well as one based off our analysis. The intended audience was that of a college

level, one of heightened reading capability and vocabulary while still being legible. The desired

effect was to pose an educated assumption about the purpose of a specific image. I chose to

appeal to somebody who could easily picture a work of art solely on how I describe it, being as

descriptive as possible. I tried to use the free write method during the rough draft version of this

essay while going back and revising it only during the final essay process, finding that the free

write method made it easier to get all of my thoughts and the important parts of what I needed to

say written down, so to speak, while saving the nit-picky detail focused part of my paper for the

polishing stage. I feel my essay was very detailed in a way that anybody who were to read this

would be able to have a sufficient understanding on what image I was trying to describe. Though

I had classes during the scheduled meetups with the rest of the class, my roommates took a

glance at my work and read over it as my peer review, and did impact the end result of my

writing. Following the rough draft, I had not touched on the broader details such as the color

scheme as much as I did the less noticeable details like the chipped wall, thus, I fixed what was

wrong. While they did help me tremendously, my only obstacle during the writing process was

the environment of my dorm. Needless to say, loud football videogames and playing rap music

out loud hampered my ability to write. On the other hand, I discovered through this specific

writing process that I need a secluded room with no distractions and quiet background music to
concentrate. Along with that, in the future, I plan on using the free write process when I write

essays.