BANKSY

Banksy is one of the worlds most famous graffiti artist, political activist and painter yet his identity is still not known. He is known for his stenciling technique that can be found in different parts of America and Great Britain and even in one of the most dangerous places in the world Israel. Rumors have been spread that Banksy was born and raised in Bristol England. Banksy displays his art on punlic surfaces such as walls, signs and even going as far as to build physical prop pieces. Another interesting fact is that auctineers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.

In his early life, Banksy beagan his career as a freehand graffiti artist and soon started to use stencils which he is fame for nowadays. His striking and humorous images are usually combined with slogans and the message is usually about anti-war, anti-capitalist- or anti-establishment. His subjects often include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly.

His first exhibition was held in Los Angeles 33 1/3 Gallery entitled Existencilism. In 2003, he had an exhibition called Turf War, held in a warehouse . This was also the time when Banksy started to produce subverted paintings for example Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritius such as litter and a shopping trollet floating in its reflective waters. In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British 10 pound notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Diana, Princess of Wales's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to Banksy of England". Some one threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some people tried to spend the notes in local shops. These notes have been sold for almost 200 pounds each. A limited run of ten uncut notes were also produced and sold by Pictures on Walls for 100 pounds each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. In 2007, one of these was sold for 24000 pounds at Bonhams auction houses in London.

In August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on the Iseaeli West Bank Wall. He also held an exhibition called Barely Legal in Los Angeles. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern. During that year, Banksy also placed his subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Naural History in New York which became BIG NEWS.
After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for 25000 pounds, a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in London for 50400 pounds which was five times their extimated value, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for 57600 pounds at the same auction. In 2007, Sotheby's auction house in Londo auctioned three works, reaching the highest price for a Banksy wort at auction over 102000 pounds for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti wors, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for 37200 pounds and 31200 pounds respectively which were well above their estimated value. The following day's auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices: Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached 96000 pounds; Glory sold for 72000 pounds; Untitled (2004) sold for 33600 pounds; all significantly above estimated values. To coincide with the second day auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, " I Can't Belive You Morons Actually Buy This Shit." In April that year, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work Space Girl and Bird fetching 288000 pounds arond 20 times its estimated value.

His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opend 5 Oct 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken Nuggets as they pecj at a barbecue sauce packet.

In June 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, his largest exhibition yet with over 300000 visitors over the 12 weeks. Last but not least, in 2010, the world premiere of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop occurred at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah which is the only documentary that has Banksy in person despite the shadowing and altered voice. Banksy also appeard on one of the Simpsons episodes where his name was sprayed on certain places in the famous Simpsons intro.