Banksy at Bristol Museum

Don't miss the "pictures" slide show link.

Banksy talks about his endangered piece in London

Pretty funny and profound stuff. It turns out the Royal Mail is the complainant and the defender claims it's theirs and it's advertising. Banksy is not amused.

On Oct. 23, the Council of Westminster in London ordered the removal of a 23 ft (7 m) Banksy mural -- reportedly his largest work in central London -- claiming that it encourages graffiti.

In an exclusive statement to TIME, the mysterious guerrilla prankster has responded to the council's decision. "I don't know what next door is complaining about -- their building is so ugly the 'No Trespassing' sign reads like an insult," the statement reads, referring to Royal Mail, a tenant of the building that has sought the mural's removal.

Save the Banksy campaign

Not surprisingly, citizens would rather save that Banksy (see previous post) in London rather than let the authorities whitewash another masterpiece. Bristol saved one of theirs this way, so who knows. You'd think the Tate Modern would step up to defend it given their recent focus on street art.

Here's the email address in a usable format: planninginformation@westminster.gov.uk

Here's a photo of the work in question

London to eradicate another Banksy production

Better get photos now, Londoners. The grey paint committee is on the way. The lovely anti-CCTV piece is going to be destroyed.

Banksy's Pet Store in New York

Banksy's "Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" will be open until October 31st (Halloween) daily from 10am until midnight. And you can see the stuff through the window too, so just go.

While New Yorkers have been consumed by the stock market meltdown, a tiny little pet store quietly opened four days ago at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street in the West Village of New York City.

It's an installation with no live animals (finally). And it's stencil and graffiti free. It would be hard to believe it's Banksy's if Wooster Collective hadn't said so. Follow the link to see their video of some of it.

Wooster: From Banksy:

?New Yorkers don?t care about art, they care about pets. So I?m exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If it's art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art."

Banksy in New Orleans

via BoingBoing

Color - It's okay to express yourself, in the closet or garage

Just ask the Swiss Embassy.

"Perhaps we need to follow the example of the Swiss embassy in London, where a recent much-publicized party revealed a secret that its staff had enjoyed privately for years - its underground parking garage is not a dull white wasteland but a place full of colour and commentary.

"In 2001, then-ambassador Bruno Spinner had invited local graffiti artists to create what was supposed to be a temporary installation, but it proved too irresistible to whitewash."

[...]

"Back at the Swiss embassy in London, one of the contributing artists, Banksy, has become so famous in the seven years since the graffiti installation was created that his part of it (which includes 21 profiles of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin sporting a Mohawk and a Mona Lisa with a rifle range stencilled on her forehead) is estimated to be worth £1-million."

"Which is, no doubt, a lot more valuable than all of the granite, marble and embellishments in the embassy's front hall put together."

Of course, there's no photo in the article. And the article goes on about the adventures of conservative people painting bright colors in closets for secret thrills. London does seem the perfect place for a Banksy in the old pantry or a perky little painted car park.

Go ahead ... live a little. Gray is for battleships.

London: Banksy tunnel - this weekend only [updated]

"Graffiti artist Banksy has turned a south London tunnel into a half-mile long exhibition space, but the elusive artist kept its location secret until the last minute, reported the BBC. Banksy marshaled more than three dozen international artists for what he's calling the "Cans Festival" - and is encouraging visitors to contribute their own graffiti starting Saturday.

Members of the public are being invited to take part in Banksy's latest project in London, as an army of graffiti writers turn a whole street into an art exhibition. "

More: www.thecansfestival.com

UPDATE: on Flickr

Another article about graffiti innovations

Breakthroughs? You be the judge. Some cool stuff in there for sure, but plenty to get riled about as well. As a commenter put it, graffiti is usually associated with "a certain demographic" but apparently when people of other demographics do it, it's cool. Can you smell the racism there?

Banksy vs CCTV

Banksy's new wall quickly covered in plastic

You know you would.

Banksy wall sells for more than $400,000

[Australia] "... as one of Melbourne's few remaining pieces of stencil art by the elusive British graffiti artist Banksy, the little diver gained further cachet yesterday when another Banksy work on a London wall fetched £208,000 ($A453,700) on an eBay auction."

Sweet. The auction winner has to remove and replace the wall on top of that. I see portability problems continuing ;^)

Witness really smart idiots grousing about it being vandalism anyway: Banksy e-bay auction . Anyone care to bet these folks would paint it out instead of cashing in, if it were on their house? I bet they'll all be leaving spraypaint in the milkbox overnight and praying the stencil angel comes calling now.

Of course, Banksy probably makes no money on his works' newfound life as wall(s) at large, but buzz like this is what you want as an artist, clearly. Can't hurt the gallery price to have people excising masonry for it. Maybe this will eventually be the downfall of the Palestine wall? We can only watch and hope.

Banksy and friends do the Israeli wall of shame again

Banksy back in Israel for Christmas charity auction

"I like the idea vandalism has contributed to the local economy," his message said.

"In Britain they always complain graffiti costs the taxpayer millions of pounds but that's a load of rubbish. Graffiti is free. Its painting things grey again that costs all the money."

Proceeds from the auction will go to "children's charities in the occupied territories."

Idiots eradicate another Banksy in London

Graffiti removal is even more expensive when masterpieces that draw international tourists are wiped away. Smart money would have replaced the surface and taken the artwork to auction. The cleaning people wouldn't have had to work again if they'd preserved it instead.

More Banksy in LA

Prisoner at Disneyland - Not sure Banksy has actually claimed responsibility for this one, but speculation is.

Warehouse exhibit in LA
but there's an elephant in the room.

I'm a big fan of Banksy's ideas and work, but I sure wish he'd stop using real animals.

Other people agree, and in the end, the elephant is shown "naked" again.
Latest Banksy news posting on BoingBoing.net points out that non-toxic paint was used, FWIW.

Update: But animal control didn't like the paint type used, so they ordered the owners of the elephant to remove it. The officials suggested child-safe face paint. On the upside, Angela Jolie bought almost $400,000 worth of artwork from Banksy, reportedly, and the elephant is being well looked after and taken home each night by its owners.
Daily Mail and LA Times.
In another article the owner explains that the elephant is "used to wearing makup" which makes sense, in Hollywood. She certainly looked good in it, that's for sure.

Banksy does Paris (youtube)

... and, he's coming to LA next: Watch for details at www.banksy.co.uk

Bristol votes to keep Banksy piece

"Overwhelming support from the people of Bristol means an eye-catching piece of graffiti by the 'guerilla' artist Banksy is to stay. ..."

The painting is of a naked man hanging by one hand from a window ledge while a cuckolded husband looks out the window after him.