Banksy: back in town

 

Banksy has been quiet of late, but he's back with a bang and a squirt of Montana with a new selection of on-wall witicisms. A different league to Mr Brainwash's efforts, given what I saw at the Opera Gallery in New Bond Street last week.

Banksy: sign of the times

 So up pops another Banksy where you least expect it, expanding on the long-running vermin theme.

I can't be sure but that looks a bit like Spitalfields, or maybe Hoxton, and that there is a road sign just begging to be removed.

Let's see how long it stays up.

Banksy on the move: how to transport a wall

The trouble with Banksy's artwork is that a lot of it is sprayed on walls. So if you want to exhibit his original pieces you have to take the wall down.

That's exactly what was done for the Original Street Works exhibition at the Keszler Gallery in New York. Walls were taken down in Los Angeles, Palestine, Brighton and New Orleans, and artworks dating back to as far as 2002 removed.

The video shows you the process of removing the Stop and Search and Wet Dog works from Palestine.

Banksy must have wondered why he bothered going all the way out there in the first place.

Banksy on tour: California spraying

So he's still there then after his failure to pick up anything at the Oscars. To be honest, while Exit Through the Gift Shop was undoubtedly a worthy contender, perhaps his Oscar nomination was really a step too far towards the mainstream.

That's not withstanding the logistical difficulties associated with attending the ceremony without blowing his identity.

Whatever, that's all in the dim and distant past now, and Banksy is back to doing what he does best with a bit of exterior design. This time it's a star-glassed rat on a taco shop wall in Oceanside.

Via Hypebeast

 Pictures by Drew Schultz

Banksy goes to Hollywood, but not to the Oscars

Well Banksy won't be going to the Oscars to pick up his Best Documentary gong for Exit Through the Gift Shop.

The organisers have told him he won't be allowed to attend in disguise, which as good as bans him from going seeing as he is just as famous for his hidden identity as he is his paintings.

That doesn't seem to have put him off his spraying - more Banksy artworks are appearing on the streets of Hollywood by the day, and the world's favourite vandal has even made onto an episode of The Simpsons.

Still, with the attention of Hollywood focused on the Oscars, Banksy could have the time of his life with those cans of his on the night.

Banksy goes to Hollywood: part trois

Banksy is keeping himself so busy in Hollywood that it's difficult to keep up. Here are another couple of works that have appeared. Expect that tanker to be airlifted away by some rich collector by the end of the week.

 

Via Arrested Motion

Banksy goes to Hollywood: part deux

A quick addendum to yesterday's post about Banksy in Tinseltown. This time he's given a billboard the treatment, which raises two questions: how long before someone climbs up there and nicks it, and if they don't, will anyone dare to paper over it and ruin what could possibly be a multi-million dollar work of art?

Expect to see it on Ebay anytime soon.

Via Wooster Collective

Banksy goes to Hollywood

Banksy is nothing if not well travelled. One minute he's painting a wall around the corner and the next thing he pops up in Hollywood being a bad influence on Charlie Brown.

I hope Snoopy isn't around when that petrol goes up.

Banksy: in the line of vision

I can see this building from my window, seven floors down on The Highway in East London. It has a fresh lick of magnolia paint, no doubt ordered by some jobsworth after what is suspected to be a Banksy appeared on it.

It just goes to show the notice I take of my surroundings that I never once clocked the artwork, which even if it turns out to be done by someone else, does raise a smile.

If you're reading this Banksy, do us a favour and stick it up again.

Banksy goes flat pack: there's bound to be a screw missing

Banksy does a portrait of your average Ikea customer

Banksy's last film has been nominated for an Oscar apparently although with him you never really know what to believe so when I see a hooded figure clutchig a gold Action Man, then I will be convinced.

I still haven't seen the film anyway, and here's another one, entitled How to Sell a Banksy, which is pretty much as self explanatory as you can get, you might think. Apparently it's a comedy caper.

And to commemorate what is no doubt a bit of celluloid mastery, Banksy's vandalised another wall.

I hate Ikea anyway so this is actually totally up my strasa. It's just a shame he didn't do it inside one of their superstores, while in the queue for some meatballs and chips perhaps.

Banksy's graffiti blackboard: saves paint

I've just painted a blackboard onto a wall in my kitchen, but this isn't it. You'll find this particular blackboard on a wall on the Regents Canal and it has been created by Banksy.

I'm not entirely sure if this is the wall which became the subject of that aerosol-fuelled feud between Banksy and his nemesis King Robbo, but it looks like it's in a similarly grim setting.

If it is it means Banksy has obliterated Robbo entirely, thus setting the scene for some more tit-for-tat antics. Maybe that's the point of the chalk drawing - Robbo can just rub it out and do his own, and so on ad infinitum.

More fun than a game of hopscotch in the lunch hour, and just think of the environmental benefits.

Banksy: At it again

At the other end of the art spectrum from the extravagance of Murakami is Banksy.

None of your Palace of Versailles here - instead he chooses pretty average urban walls which need a bit of a perking up with a few observations on the hypocrisy of life.

Seeing as he's in the middle of some sort of multicolour spraypaint comedy battle with another graffiti bloke called King Robbo right now, you can expect these pieces to last about as long as it takes Robbo to find them.

Maybe that's the significance of the egg timer in the one above. Maybe it's something completely different.

Whatever, it's a good job someone took some pictures of them

Banksy: He loves New York

Here's proof that you can't keep a good man down, especially when it's Banksy and there are still walls to decorate.

He might well have stoked the ire of the New York graffiti massive with his latest series of works, so much so that they decided to scribble all over them.

But it looks like Banksy had some unfinished business of his own, in the form of this little kid dressed up like the statue of Liberty with her finger up her nose.

A little subtle comment on the city that loves him so much perhaps? Depends on how you look at it.

The book is now open on how long this one will last.

Banksy in New York

So Banksy is still in America then. This time he's chosen the Big Apple for his latest offerings.

And you've got to hand it to him - he's right on the money as usual, summing up the moment nicely.

He's also the first person I can think of to offer a new take on that synonymous New York heart logo.  Like we needed to see more of it.

Via Freshness

Banksy in San Francisco: Saying it like it is

Banksy has never been one to mince his words, and that is particlarly true of his latest piece of work in San Francisco.

Sums up the US military's rules of engagement fairly well, I think.

Via I am Fatter Than You

Banksy: The missing link

We've been privvy to a few glimpses into what makes the iconic artists of the street generation tick recently.

We had a look at Futura's office the other day, and now we have a selection of Banksy's sketches to browse over.

To be honest these fascinate me more than the works themselves. They offer that missing link between what goes on in his mind and what he puts on the walls.

And quite a witty little collection it is, too.

In other Banksy related news, Robbo's been at it again, adding his little touches to well-known Banksy pieces all around the capital (below) in a tit-for-tat campaign that started with Banksy's cusomisation of Robbo's 20-odd year old bubble piece down on the Regent Canal. Banksy seems to have let this lie some time ago, but the whole episode seems to have given Robbo another lease of life.

One thing that has crossed my mind, given that only a few people know the identity of Banksy is that he might actually be Robbo. Banksy was revealed by the Daily Mail (the only paper that speaks the truth, according to my dad) as Robin Gunningham. Robbo could well be a nickname of Robin. Mere coincidence?

And I know I've put that suggestion out there before, but I'm waiting for someone to pick it up and run with it, so expect to see it again.

Via Slamxhype via Arrested Motion