Thursday, November 19, 2009

BANKSY (BIG ASS ART POST #2)

Beth
Near Bethlehem - 2005


He is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, artist alive. To some a genius, to others a vandal. Always controversial, he inspires admiration and provokes outrage in equal measure...
Coppers
Kissing Coppers, Brighton - 2005


Since Banksy made his name with his trademark stencil-style 'guerrilla' art in public spaces - on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even on the West Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians -
Isreal
- his works have sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. He has dozens of celebrity collectors including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera. He is also known for his headline-making stunts, such as leaving an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland, California, and hanging a version of the Mona Lisa - but with a smiley face - in the Louvre, Paris.


BANKSY in Paris

Oops, WRONG Paris!!!
(these had remixed tracks by DangerMouse? WISH I could've gotten one. But, I'd have to have been buying a Paris Hilton CD...)

But perhaps his most provocative statement, and the one that generates the most publicity, is the fact that Banksy's true identity has always been a jealously guarded secret, known to only a handful of trusted friends. A network of myths has grown up around him. That his real name is Robin Banks. That he used to be a butcher. That his parents don't know what he does, believing him to be an unusually successful painter and decorator. Then there's the suggestion that Banksy is actually a collective of artists and doesn't exist at all...
9th Ward


9th
BANKSY works the 9th Ward, New Orleans - August 2008

Such is the curiosity about Banksy that when the great man threw a pizza box into a bin in Los Angeles, the box resurfaced on auction site eBay, with the seller suggesting that the few anchovies left inside might yield traces of his DNA.
Not It
Not THIS one...


He is the Scarlet Pimpernel of modern art, so adept at leaving false trails that even his own agent has claimed that he is not certain of his identity. Indeed, trying to establish just who the elusive Banksy is has proved as difficult as predicting the location of his next work. His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened October 5, 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror....


Go on, play it. You know you're curious...



(wanted you all to see the detail, that's why the pics are so big...)
Banksy signature

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