banksy

if you were to ask me who my favorite visual artist is right now, whether paint, sculpture or any form of visual art, i would readily say Banksy. for those of you who don't know who he is, he's a revolutionary street artist from england whose use of stencils has changed the face of modern graffiti. his pieces adorn run down buildings and billboards all over major cities around the world and they often make use of the surroundings in a way not imagined before. in order to avoid prosecution, he's extremely secretive about his identity. he's been known to go into an art gallery and place one of his works on the wall in a framed canvas. his paintings convey messages that have to do with hypocrisy and are frequently subversive to the surveillance state that is ever-present in england. the last time i was in new york i had heard that his art was popping up so imagine my surprise when i found this one:


click to enlarge

anyway, there's a documentary being made about him with behind the scenes footage of him creating his art. also, you should check out his website to see his many works of art at http://www.banksy.co.uk. what's kinda awesome is that if he were to reveal himself, he would surely be prosecuted, but many of his works are now being copied and sold for lots and lots of money. one store owner in england had a lengthy court battle when the city wanted to paint over the banksy mural that she had grown to love on the building that she owns.


anyway, the reason i'm excited is because a new trailer for the movie just came out. here it is: