Banksy’s This’ll Look Nice When Its Framed appeared in the Mission District at Valencia and 20th streets. Jauntily perched on the roof of the Amnesia Bar, painted on the clapboard side of the neighboring home, this graffiti art featured a black-and-white stenciled youth holding a can of paint and a brush. The words are scrawled above and to the left of the child, who glares defiantly at anyone who looks his way.

Is the boy daring anyone who sees him to call the police? Is he expressing Banksys own frustration at societys lack of appreciation for the role of graffiti in beautifying otherwise drab, run-down neighborhoods? Perhaps the child is daring the adults who pass by to see that beauty and talent are not confined to the art worlds definition of art and beauty.

As the casual viewer delves deeper in the implications of this art piece, the first impression of the print remains muddled. It is unclear which Tesco company the artist intends to portray; the drilling company or the retail shop both seem to be candidates, and perhaps this duality was intentional on the part of the artist.

The choice of using sandcastles to display the Tesco logo is significant. It implies that Tesco owns the beach in a childish manner, surrounding the larger castle claimed by the British flag. The central idea behind this print seems to be that Tesco is encroaching on British soil one child’s castle at a time.

The painting glorifies and immortalizes the everyday. When it comes to something exciting or memorable, a can of soup is not anyones first thought. The work celebrates the mundane, the things rarely thought about. That it is on a gray background reinforces the colorless feel of the commonplace.

This print is heavy with irony and political commentary. The first impression of the scene conveys a sense of shock among the casual art viewer as the children seem to honor the Tesco grocery bag as they might honor their nation’s flag. The children in this art piece idolize the bag, which seems to be the artist’s representation of commercialism and consumer culture. The children in the photo now show allegiance to a corporation rather than their home country.

The only color that the artist chose to use in this art piece appears on the makeshift flag. This choice further accents the allegiance of the children to the plastic Tesco flag hoisted high. The children are oppositely depicted in soft grey, black and white paint, which furthers the sense of their disaffection.

The piece shows what appears to be a clay vase with an arrangement of wilted sunflowers on top. On the withered leaves and flowers is a bluish tint that looks suspiciously akin to petroleum in an oil spill. Scattered around the base of the vase are what may be construed as dried leaves or droplets of crude oil. The warm yellow background brings out the contrast even further. It emphasizes the irony of what should have been a bright, idyllic image.

Its possible that Banksy is trying to dig deeper in the implications and on societys take on graffiti itself. Society seems to assume that creators of graffiti are these masked, hooded people who have evil intentions and want only to turn a nice city into a dirty one. In reality, these artists may have good intentions and may even be trying to spread goodwill. Instead they are regarded as outsiders and miscreants.

The artist portrays the spacesuit in a unique manner. The suit looks more like an old deep-sea divers suit than a modern astronauts spacesuit. The passerby recognizes the figure in the print as female by the long tail of hair poking out of the back of the suit’s helmet. The small, boot-like legs also point to a feminine figure. Combined with the yellow bird and pink heart, the art piece conveys a sense of feminine comfort.

The piece shows the grim reaper in monochrome, black and white. He is holding a sickle and sitting on clock with a pendulum hanging below it. The hands on the clock show the time as being five minutes to midnight. The grim reapers face is that of a smiley done in bright yellow. The eyes, although colored in solid black, appear to be looking directly at whoever is viewing the picture.

The work is a modern twist on a classic painting of Mary and baby Jesus. At the time that traditional Catholic paintings like this would have been created, it was a good mirror on what the society and culture was like. Religion was a huge facet of society when these paintings were created. Banksy creates a mirror for society in this work as well. Madonna is our version of an important figure, or a general symbol for celebrities and other famous people. She holds an iPod to represent how technology seems to dictate our lives nowadays. Everything is digital, and it seems that sometimes society places more stock on technology such that it is easy to forget the value of traditional interaction. While it may not be the most gorgeous painting, and it may not do the traditional Roman Catholic paintings justice, it does accurately paint what culture and society is like at this time, which is what all artists strive to do.