The Banksy Blog

Hitler V Banksy

2011-03-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

“Call Winston the war can be over if he can get one of my pictures into the Tate Modern…. I ******* hate this Banksy” – Hitler.

Read more and watch the Video: Hitler V Banksy

What will Banksy do Next?

2011-03-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to briggsy326 who made this amazing video.
The question is what will Banksy do next....watch this space.
Or perhaps these guys know something... ?
Banksy FB Revolution

Banksy Does Hollywood: New Grafitti

2011-02-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

Looks like Banksy is doing a spot of advertising for himself as judges decide who is going to get the Oscar for Best Documentary. As the decisions are being made for the Oscars, which are being handed out on the 27 February, four new Banksys have appeared in Hollywood.

Nothing wrong with a bit of self promotion. That possibly is what Banksy is doing in Hollywood at the moment. With his film Exit Through the Gift Shop being considered for Best Documentary it looks like our favourite graffiti artist has been out painting the town over the last few nights.

Here are the works that have appeared to date:

Link: Banksy Does Hollywood: New Grafitti

Banksy Directs The Simpsons

2011-02-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

For the first time, in 2010, the Simpsons’ team approached an outside artist to direct the intro to one of its episodes. Prior to this, no outside artist had been allowed to storyboard part of the show. The artist they approached to direct it was Banksy.
The Simpsons team approached Banksy to ask if he would like to do part of the intro and he accepted – supplying storyboards which The Simpsons’ animation team at Film Roman then animated.
...The sequence is said to have been one of the most closely guarded secrets in US television– comparable to the concealment of Banksy’s own identity....
Read More: Banksy Directs The Simpsons

The Banksy Facebook Revolution

2011-02-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

What is happening on Facebook. Is Banksy painting on everybodys 'walls'? Is he electronically taking over the network giant? There are quite a number of questions to be asked. Some have said that it is a social revolution; others, that it is a revolution in the way that facebook is being used. Or perhaps just a fad.

One writer suggested that it was an opportunity to make people aware of "...how corporations have grown to be massive soulless entities that have the same legal rights as a human being - a HUMAN being! How can something that has so much power and who's sole purpose is to make as much profit as possible be given the same rights as a human being. How can governments create laws and make them retroactive, just so they can deny a group of people rights they would have otherwise had. They would not see day by day endless examples of the mockery that lawyers have made of the justice system. They don't understand that when wars are raged there are a select group of people who make a lot of money regardless of who wins. They don't realise that world hunger and poverty could be removed from the face of the planet if only 10% of the USA military budget was used for such purposes."

Another, that perhaps it was "...inspiring empowerment in people to stand and say f**k the corrupt establishment..."
I don't think the answer is out there yet. Watch this space for any further developments and I will be watching these links:

VIdeos: http://www.youtube.com/BanksyRevolution

Blog and Forum: http://www.banksyfacebookrevolution.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Banksy-FB-Revolution/129381217128528

Banksy Avatars for Facebook

2011-01-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

It’s been quiet on the streets recently. There doesn’t seem to have been any activity from Banksy since his travels promoting his film ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’. But his pictures are reappearing: replacing people’s pics and avatars on their profile pages on Facebook.
It is not something that Banksy is doing -his technology does not go that far (yet). Rather people are selecting his pictures to put up on their Facebook pages by choice.....
Link: Banksy Avatars for Facebook

What Does Banksy Mean: These are Revolutionary Times in Art?

2010-05-07T01:32:00.000-07:00

“…it’s important not to forget these are revolutionary times in art.

“There’s a whole new audience out there, and it’s never been easier to sell it, particularly at the lower levels. You don’t have to go to college, drag ’round a portfolio, mail off transparencies to snooty galleries or sleep with someone powerful. All you need now is a few ideas and a broadband connection. This is the first time the essentially bourgeois world of art has belonged to the people. We need to make it count.” Banksy.

How would you interpret that quote from Banksy? This was a challenge that two writers took on.
Do they agree or differ?
Who is right: either, both or neither?

Link: What Does Banksy Mean: These are Revolutionary Times in Art?

The Death of Graffiti Artist Banksy

2010-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

“Death… are you sure it’s Banksy?”
I’m sure.

Link:The Death of Graffiti Artist Banksy

Banksy Steals Band Name Then Gives Them $300,000 Painting

2010-04-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Urban Graffiti artist Banksy’s latest venture was his documentary film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which opened at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals to rave reviews. However what do you do if you are Banksy and discover that there already exists a British band called “Exit Through the Gift Shop”?

Link Banksy Steals Band Name Then Gives Them $300,000 Painting

Exit Through The Giftshop

2010-03-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

http://quazen.com/arts/visual-arts/banksy-film-exit-through-the-gift-shop/

Banksy Film: Exit Through The Gift Shop

2010-02-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

What is the unknown urban commando graffiti artist going to do next? That’s the question that many of his fans and lovers of his art always ask. Well this time he once again surprised everybody, by releasing a film. It premiered at the Sundance Film festival on January 25 2010. Here is the story behind it, together with the trailer, the reviews and the artwork that appeared in Park City, Utah, at the time of the screening…
Read more

Banksy Back on The Streets with a Dig at Ikea

2009-09-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

Hardly have the exhibits from Banksy’s hugely successful 2009 Summer Exhibition been taken down and packed away than new works by the “urban commando” graffiti artist have started to appear on the streets again. He’s on form and a certain worldwide furniture retailer gets a poke!

Read more

Banksy at The Bristol Museum: This is a Queuing Opportunity

2009-09-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

The chance to go, see and photograph Banksy’s exhibition at the Bristol Museum was to good an opportunity to miss. But would the queues be worth it?

Graffiti Artist Banksy’s Summer Show 2009: Banksy vs Bristol Museum

2009-06-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Home grown hero Banksy is staging his summer show in Bristol: the city where his work started to adorn the wall in the 1990s. This may come as a surprise to local councilors who only found out on Friday the day before the exhibition opened on Saturday 13 June, especially as it is being held in the council-owned City Museum and Art Gallery.

Latest Banksy Exhibition: News and Pictures

2009-05-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

Details of the latest (unofficial) Banksy Exhibition in London.

The Andipa Gallery, at Knightsbridge in London, recently held a selling exhibition of rare works by the UKs leading urban artist, Banksy, including the largest canvas ever to come on the market.
All of the works on display were from the galleries collection, built up over the last three years.

Two New Banksy Graffiti Artworks Appear in London

2009-03-02T03:14:00.000-08:00

Banksy does not appear to have been very active on the streets recently, so there was anticipation and excitement on the net when two new works were spotted last night.

Read more to view pictures

Urban Graffiti as Art: Banksy

2008-12-15T16:55:00.001-08:00

The work of the British urban guerrilla artist known only as Banksy.

To many the sight of an urban wall scrawled with graffiti is an eyesore and depressing. It purports a careless society. It reminds us of vandalism and thugs on the streets.But what if the graffiti was intelligent art, thought provoking art or just plain funny? Such is the work of the British urban guerrilla artist known only as Banksy.
Banksy is thought to have first appeared in Bristol, his works are usually of layered stencil .One of his commonest images is of rats.Sometimes by adding them to an existing notice or object, what is plain and uninteresting becomes amusing.......

Read full article

Banksy in Bethlehem: Art and the Barrier Between Two Nations

2008-12-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

Banksy visit to the West Bank brought up a string of controversy, on both sides. His art, however, remains appropriately controversial and intriguing.

His art always makes a not-so-subtle social statement. His rats, perhaps, representing the “rat race” of modern society.
To any graffiti artist, an unadorned wall takes on the temptation of an artist’s easel.
When Israel built the controversial 436 mile long security barrier to separate itself from the Palestinian Authority controlled areas, they might as well have sent out an invitation to Banksy at the same time!
He is quoted by The Mail Online as saying: “The segregation wall is a disgrace…The possibility I find exciting is that you could turn the world’s most invasive and degrading structure into the world’s longest gallery of free speech and bad art.” A UK television station, Channel 4, ran a news item quoting Banksy’s attitude to the wall: “It turns Palestine into the world’s largest open prison,” and described the wall as “the ultimate Graffiti Artists’ holiday destination.”
His art is unquestionably intriguing.
So with this huge canvas available, Banksy took his “holiday” in 2005.......

Read the full article

Banksy Storms New Orleans: Banksy vs. the Grey Ghost

2008-12-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

"I came to New Orleans to do battle with the Gray Ghost."

On August 28th 2008, the day before the third anniversary of the storm, the controversial British, urban guerilla graffiti artist Banksy travelled to New Orleans.

His plan: to hit the place fast and have his easily recognizable stencil based works in place to commemorate the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
“Three years after Katrina I wanted to highlight the state of the clean up operation.

I looked out the window of the taxi on the drive into New Orleans and remarked “There’s still so much devastation I can’t believe they haven’t cleaned this mess up”, to which the driver
stared at me and said “This part of the city wasn’t affected by the hurricane-it’s always looked like this.””....

Read the full article

Banksy Punked Paris Hilton: Cunning Stunts

2008-12-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

“You could stick all my shit in Tate Modern and have an opening with Tony Blair and Kate Moss on Rollerblades handing out vol-au-vents, and it wouldn't be as exciting as when you go out and you paint something big where you shouldn't do." - Banksy.

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist from the UK whose work has become world famous and his studio works now command enormous prices in auction.
His stencil and spray-paint works first started to appear on the walls of buildings in and around Bristol and London in the early 90s.
Soon they spread to other areas of the UK.
The mainly positive reaction that he got to his work must have encouraged him to go further afield. Most famously, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and, even more audaciously, on the Dividing Wall in Bethlehem.

However, if you are making humorous or serious, social and political statements then there are other places to make them besides walls and studios, and Banksy's been there.
Urban graffiti artist? Maybe it should be more “Mission Impossible” artist with some of the stunts Banksy has pulled over the last few years.......

Read the full article

Banksy: How to Make Millions with Spraycan and Stencil

2008-12-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

The studio work.

The “urban graffiti” artist known only as Banksy is renowned for his street art. With his recognisable stencils and slogans adorning the walls of public buildings, his works are known for their humour and social and political comment.
There is however another side to Banksy: that of the studio artist.

The stencils are still a favoured medium, and several are recognisable as those used in some of his outdoor work......

Read the full article

Urban Graffiti Artist Banksy Opens a Pet Shop

2008-12-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

When I heard that the controversial Banksy had opened a pet shop, I just couldn’t believe it.
Was there going to be some guy in a ski mask selling rats and cuddly rabbits, or was he just cutting the ribbon at an opening ceremony and would his anonymous cover be blown?
I needn’t have worried. It turned out to be his first official exhibition in New York, at "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, in Manhattan".
The well known Graffiti artist who now sells his studio works for hundreds of thousands of dollars, to people such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Dennis Hopper, described the fake pet shop as being about "our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming".
The works in his exhibition are all three dimensional animatronics, and can be seen through the windows of the store.......

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Banksy Gunrat Will Double Value of British Pub

2008-12-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

Prospective buyers of a derelict Liverpool pub could be laughing all the way to the Banksy.

The derelict Liverpool pub The Whitehouse is on the market for £495,000, but with Banksy’s largest work, of a gun toting rat on the wall it is estimated to be worth around £1 million (approx $2m U.S)
Jonathan Owen, commercial sales director at Sutton Kersh, acting on behalf of the owners Frenson, is reported, as saying: : "The asking price is for a vacant city centre building and land... and does not include any added value that may be attributed to the authenticated Banksy artwork.
He added that they had been inundated with offers from art dealers.
"Now that the artwork on the Whitehouse pub has been authenticated as a genuine Banksy work we anticipate that this may generate offers significantly above the value of the buildings themselves."
“We’ve got interest from parties in the art world who want to retain the building and turn the building into an art gallery.......

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