Off The Wall Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nobody knows

Banksy began creating graffiti in the early 1990s as part of the vibrant underground scene in Bristol, England. He moved from freehand techniques to his signature stenciling method around 2000, after realizing it allowed him to produce complex work much more quickly and discreetly.

Banksy has chosen to remain anonymous as a deliberate artistic choice that focuses attention on his message rather than his identity or background. This also helped shield himself from criminal prosecution as it could be considered vandalism if done on public or private property without permission. Ironically, Banksy's secrecy has become a powerful marketing tool that enhances the value of his work.

His art work typically critiques war, capitalism, hypocrisy, and authority while focusing on themes of hope and rebellion. Common subjects include rats, children, policemen, and apes. "Girl with Balloon" is one of his more famous works. It is a simple yet powerful stencil of a child reaching for a heart-shaped balloon, often interpreted as a symbol of hope or loss.

Answer: AIDS

Keith Haring emerged from the New York City street culture of the 1980s. He was known for his distinctive pop art graffiti characterized by bold lines, bright colors, and iconic, cartoon-like figures such as a barking dog. He gained initial fame through spontaneous, illicit chalk drawings on empty black advertising panels in New York subway stations. He later created more than 50 large-scale public murals around the world.

Haring focused on social & political activism themes. His iconic "Crack Is Wack" mural in East Harlem, New York was a public service announcement and powerful anti-drug statement. After he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, he used his imagery to advocate for safe sex and AIDS education.

He was famous for using certain figures to illustrate his points. A barking dog was utilized to be a warning to the public about serious issues like the AIDS epidemic, the crack epidemic, or political corruption. A crawling baby with lines radiating from its body is perhaps Haring's most universal symbol, representing innocence, purity, and positive energy. Haring died February 16, 1990, at the age of 31 of AIDS related illnesses.

Answer: Barack Obama

Shepard Fairey began his art career at a young age, first by drawing on skateboards and T-shirts around 1984, when he was 14 years old. However, his public street art career officially launched in 1989 with the creation of the iconic "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign while he was in college. This morphed into the "Obey Giant" theme which is a stark, graphic icon paired with the commanding word "OBEY". This was inspired by the subliminal messages in the John Carpenter film "They Live".

Fairey uses strong lines, flat shapes, and a minimalist aesthetic inspired by punk rock albums covers. He primarily uses red, black, and cream in his art. He does screen printing, stenciling, and painting. In 2008, Fairey created a poster of Obama as an unsolicited, grassroots contribution to the presidential campaign. The stylized portrait with the word "Hope" became an unofficial symbol of the campaign, appearing on over a million stickers and T-shirts.

Starting in 2020, his works have explored themes of environmentalism, human rights, and the critique of power, with titles such as "Universal Dignity", "Peace Is Power", "One Earth", and "Environmental Justice".

Answer: False

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an influential American artist who rose rapidly from a New York City graffiti artist to an internationally acclaimed painter in the 1980s. His graffiti work was characterized by vibrant colors, bold lines, and a distinctive use of words, phrases, and symbols like the three-pointed crown. Basquiat's art often confronted difficult subjects such as racism and the legacy of slavery and colonialism.

His big breakthrough came with his inclusion in the 1980 "Times Square Show", which led to his first solo exhibition in 1982, where all his paintings sold out. He then collaborated with, and befriended, Andy Warhol. At just 21, he became the youngest artist to participate in the prestigious Documenta exhibition in Germany.

Unfortunately, Basquiat died of an accidental heroin overdose in 1988, at the age of 27. However, he left behind more than 1,000 paintings and 2,000 drawings. His work has steadily increased in value since his death, with a painting selling for over $110 million in 2017.

Answer: Os Gemeos

The twins, known as Os Gemeos (Portugese for twins), began in 1987 in São Paulo where they were influenced by the burgeoning hip-hop scene and break dancing culture. They had limited access to conventional spray paints, which led them to experiment with car and latex paints, developing a unique style that helped define their work in the Brazilian street scene.

Their most recognizable motif is a series of large, yellow-skinned figures. This color choice, they explain, stems from their dreams, which often have yellow tones. As young children, the twins created a private, imaginary universe that they called Tritez. Their art characters are often depicted in this place where "everything's in complete harmony" and "there's nothing to worry about".

In 1993 they were introduced to American graffiti techniques and the potential for a serious studio practice. This led to international exposure and a rise to prominence. They soon were showing their work in galleries around the world.

Answer: Indigenous people

Eduardo Kobra officially began his career as a street artist in 1987, at the age of 11 or 12, in his hometown of São Paulo, Brazil. As a teenager, he began tagging buildings in the poor neighborhoods where he grew up, an activity for which he was arrested several times. He eventually transitioned from illegal tagging to creating murals, and by the early 2000s, he launched his "Memory Walls" project. This displayed daily scenes and historical moments of São Paulo.

His work then morphed to photorealism. He rendered portraits of historical and cultural icons with incredible detail, often based on vintage photographs. These realistic images are then overlaid with bold lines and a mosaic of repeating squares and triangles, which gives them a 3D feeling. Kobra chose to depict five indigenous people in his mural "Las Etnias" to symbolize global unity, diversity, and peace during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. This corresponded to the five Olympic rings. The mural broke the Guinness World Record for the largest spray-paint mural by a team at the time.

He has created murals around the world. He welcomed the athletes to Paris in 2024 with his artwork. He honored youth sports in Buffalo, New York, in 2025 and also did a live mural work in New York City that year.

Answer: Pink

Lady Pink began her graffiti writing career in 1979 as a teenager while attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. She moved from simple tagging to painting subway trains from 1979 to 1985, eventually becoming known as the "First Lady of Graffiti" due to her prominent role in the male-dominated scene. She reclaimed public spaces with paintings frequently presented from a female perspective, empowering women in the arts.

Her work often tackles social injustices, urban issues, and women's rights. She mixes elements of New York City's urban environment with fantasy and also with organic elements from the rainforest of Ecuador. In 1983, she achieved worldwide recognition for starring as the character Rose Lady Bug in the independent film "Wild Style", which is considered a classic "love letter" to the hip-hop scene.

As her graffiti art moved from streets to galleries, some of her works joined the permanent collections of major art institutions. In the mid 2010s she began teaching mural workshops and lecturing to college students, inspiring new generations of artists at institutions like the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, New York.

Answer: Ceramic tiles

This artist has "invaded" more than 80 cities worldwide since 1998. Invader's signature style is rooted in older video games, particularly the classic "Space Invaders" arcade game, from which he derived his pseudonym. He uses small, square, weather-resistant ceramic tiles to recreate the pixelated look of the retro video game characters, giving a physical look to the digital pixel.

Invader works incognito, often at night and wearing a mask, to guard his identity. He refers to himself as an "Unidentified Free Artist". Locations for his mosaics are chosen meticulously for their visibility, local interest, and symbolism. These locations range from the Hollywood sign in California to underwater sculptures in Cancun, Mexico, to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In 2014, he launched the "FlashInvaders" smartphone app, which allows users to photograph the mosaics they find, earn points, and compete with a global community, turning the search for his art into an interactive treasure hunt. While his primary work is in the streets around the world, several are in galleries and are sought after by collectors.

Answer: Rat

Blek le Rat, as Xavier Prou is known, was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, beginning his work in the early 1980s and greatly influencing the global street art movement. Inspired by the graffiti he saw in New York on a trip in 1971, he chose stencils as a different approach that he felt better suited Paris's classical architecture.

He began what he called his "invasion" in Paris in 1981. He stenciled small black rats all over the city. The rat then became his signature symbol, chosen because it is an anagram of "art" and represented the only truly free animal in the urban environment, spreading like a "plague" through the city. By 1983, he evolved his work to include life-sized stencils of solitary individuals, such as an elderly man, child, or a soldier.

Blek le Rat's art is deeply driven by social consciousness and political commentary. He has heavily focused on the plight of homelessness since 2006. He often quotes great classical painters like Caravaggio and Michelangelo, creating stenciled replicas of their work and placing them in urban spaces to make fine art accessible to a wider audience and teach them about art.

Answer: Boats

Swoon began her career in 1999 while studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, with the goal of making art and public space more accessible to everyday people. She is known for her large-scale, intricate portraits and figurative installations created using hand-cut paper and linoleum or woodblock prints. These are then pasted onto urban surfaces like abandoned buildings, bridges, and walls using a simple, non-toxic adhesive made from wheat starch and water.

She did a massive collaborative performance art project from 2006-2009 called "Swimming Cities". Swoon and a crew of artists built elaborate, sculptural rafts from salvaged materials and sailed them down major rivers and across the Venetian Lagoon. These voyages served as experiments in communal living, sustainability, and bringing community-driven art to public spaces outside of traditional galleries.

She tackles issues of natural disasters, the opioid epidemic, trauma, and structural violence. Through her Heliotrope Foundation, she has projects in places like Braddock, Pennsylvania, New Orleans, and Haiti, focusing on community revitalization and building earthquake-resistant homes. In 2024, her work began being focused on multimedia storytelling as well.