Authors and Contributors
Welcome to Banksy Explained Version 2
Banksy Explained is coming from the passion and enthusiasm of a group of art collectors and art enthusiasts for the work of an artist named Banksy, who have been following his work for over 15 years, and who share the view that Banksy is, with no doubt, one of the most gifted artists from his generation.
SEBASTIEN LABOUREAU
French-born, long-time art enthusiast and experienced art collector, after a successful career in the financial industry, Sebastien Laboureau is now an independent art advisor based in Miami, USA. He is the trusted advisor of private collectors all over the world and has extensive experience in art consulting for various brands, and in curating large-scale art exhibits. He was the Resident Art Advisor of the iconic Art Hotel, the Sagamore Miami Beach, for over 4 years, leading an ambitious cultural programming and hosting the Annual Sagamore Art Basel Brunch.
Sebastien Laboureau is the Board Chair Emeritus of the Arts and Business Council of Miami, South Florida Chapter of Americans for the Arts, a grant panelist for the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs, and a member of the Cultural Tourism Task Force of the Greater Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau. He is also a strategic consultant for various international art galleries, art fairs, and auction houses.
Passionate about street art and enthusiast about Banksy, he has been collecting his work for over 10 years.
“I have always thought street art or urban art was one of the most noble forms of art. I have been blessed and honored to meet many of those artists who make our urban environment more aesthetically pleasing… Banksy has taken this to another level!”
As an independent expert on the art market, he is a keynote speaker to various private banks, family offices, art fairs and public institutions addressing art-related topics such as Art & Finance, Collecting, or Urban Art and Pop Art. Sebastien Laboureau was featured in numerous press articles and TV shows globally, notably in USA Today for his selection of the “10 Best: Cities to see Street Art”, but also in Miami Modern Luxury, NBC, BBC, Le Figaro, Culture Owl, the Miami Herald, CBS Miami, …
Sébastien Laboureau is an Engineer graduated from the prestigious Ecole des Mines de Paris. He also holds a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics. He benefits from an international experience in Management Control & Investors Relations (at AXA Group) and Investment Banking (Mergers & Acquisitions at Goldman Sachs). He lived in Paris, London, NYC, and Miami.
CAROL DAMIAN
A former Director of the Frost Art Museum and Chairperson of FIU’s Department of Art and Art History, Dr. Carol Damian is a strong fixture in Miami‘s arts community, and a nationally recognized art historian. She is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and received her M.A. in Pre-Columbian Art and her Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Miami. A specialist in Latin American and Caribbean art, she teaches classes in Pre-Columbian, Colonial, Spanish and Contemporary Latin American Art, Modern Art surveys, and Women in Art.
Dr. Damian is the author of Neorealism and Contemporary Colombian Painting (2000) and The Virgin of the Andes: Art and Ritual in Colonial Cuzco (1995), as well as the coeditor of Popular Art and Social Change in the Retablos of Nicario Jiménez Quispe (2005). She has also written articles and art catalogs about many Cuban and Cuban-American artists such as Wilfredo Lam, Cundo Bermúdez, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Agustín Fernández, Emilio Sánchez, and Humberto Calzada. Dr. Damian is the Miami correspondent for Art Nexus and Arte al Día. She lectures frequently on Latin American and Caribbean art and has curated numerous exhibitions.
EVAN GILES
Evan Giles is a technology entrepreneur whose first love was art. He bought his first Banksy more than a decade ago and has been collecting ever since. He is a foremost expert in all things street art, and his immense knowledge and passion made him a natural fit for the project.
“I believe Banksy is a generational talent – an artist whose work is every bit as (if not more) significant and relevant today as it was the day it was created. The themes, topics, and issues he explores in his work are ones we, as a society, need to continue to address and be mindful of as we strive to become more socially, politically, and environmentally progressive.
I feel that Banksy’s work has made – and continues to make – an immeasurably positive impact on the world, and that humanity would benefit from an increased level of awareness and understanding of the artist’s work. It is for this very reason that I got involved in contributing to this project. I hope that this website might serve as a comprehensive and engaging documentation and exploration of Banksy’s career and that, in some small way, it might help expand the artist’s reach by exposing his work to a new and perhaps wider audience – enabling people to better appreciate and understand the art, as well as its impact.”
THANK YOU
This project has involved many amazing people who have also been instrumental in their own ways, including Katerina Wagner, Fredy Lopez, Tirso Hernandez, Frederic Roses, Jonathan Florez, Andy Suarez, Gabrielle Hatchuel Becker, Yohann Le Bescond, Monique Laboureau.
