Banksy smuggles art into MoMA

[IDrinkSprite]

A British graffiti artist who goes by the name "Banksy" went one step further, by smuggling in his own picture of a soup can and hanging it on a wall, where it stayed for more than three days earlier this month before anybody noticed.

The prank was part of a coordinated plan to infiltrate four of New York's top museums on a single day.

The largest piece, which he smuggled into the Brooklyn Museum, was a 2 foot by 1.5 foot (61cm by 46 cm) oil painting of a colonial-era admiral, to which the artist had added a can of spray paint in his hand and anti-war graffiti in the background.

The other two targets were the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, where he hung a glass-encased beetle with fighter jet wings and missiles attached to its body -- another comment on war, Banksy told Reuters on Thursday.

"It was just an outsider's view of the modern American bug, bristling with listening devices and military hardware," he said.

An art Web site called woostercollective.com has posted pictures of the artist -- wearing an Inspector Clouseau-style overcoat, a hat and a fake beard and nose -- hanging up his work at the four museums and describing how he did it.

Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location in Britain, Banksy said he conducted all four operations on March 13, helped by accomplices who filmed him and provided distractions where necessary.

"They staged a gay tiff (lovers' quarrel), shouting very loudly and obnoxiously," said the artist, declining to give his real name or any personal details beyond his occupation as a professional painter and decorator.

It is not the first time he has staged such stunts.

Last year he smuggled work into the Louvre in Paris and London's Tate, attracting attention in the British media.

"My sister inspired me to do it. She was throwing away loads of my pictures one day and I asked her why. She said 'It's not like they're going to be hanging in the Louvre."'

He took that as a challenge. "I thought why wait until I'm dead," he said.

His preferred creative outlet, graffiti on trains, was growing more difficult due to greater security so he decided to branch out into infiltrating museums. "I tend to gravitate to places with less sophisticated security systems," he said.

Officials at the Natural History Museum declined to comment on security. Museum of Modern Art officials said only that the offending picture was taken down on March 17.

It was unclear what gave the game away but Banksy's version of Andy Warhol's iconic images of Campbell's Soup Cans showed a can of Tesco value tomato soup, a discounted brand sold by a British supermarket chain.

"Obviously they've got their eye a lot more on things leaving than things going in which works in my favor," Banksy said. "I imagine they'll be doing stricter bag checks now."

He said the painting in the Metropolitan Museum, a small portrait of a woman wearing a gas mask, had been discovered after one day, while the others stayed up for several days. The paintings were fixed to the wall with extra-strong glue.

Asked how he managed to escape notice while putting them up on a busy Sunday at the museums, he said: "They do get pretty full, but not if you put the pictures in the boring bits."





http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/24/art.prank.reut/index.html

[crushkilldestroy]

i love banksy. he's got balls the size of watermelons to do shit like that.

[AW]

Link to photo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/050324/ids_photos_ts/r2421143834.jpg&e=16&ncid=633)

[AORAone]

my favorite banksy is the one where he paintd the cross walk over the car and up the wall, the guys great. pure and simple

[type R]

http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

has pictures and a video of this.

[anotherwhiteboy]

he made world news this am on NBC don't ask me why i was up that early to see it. Never the less is made my day.

[T.T Boy]

any one remember tom green doing this on tv?

good work banksy.

[type R]

yeah, he would add trees and shit to the paintings with magic marker in front of the tour group.

[acidRain_]

i seen that on the news also. my mother yelled at me to go watch the rest of the lil segment.
word to banksy

[Sarah Tonin]

so thats who it was...all cnn and msnbc would say was "a british graffiti artist"...ballsy.

[caffeine]

Originally posted by type R@Mar 25 2005, 06:42 PM
yeah, he would add trees and shit to the paintings with magic marker in front of the tour group.
Quoted post

Link?

[ASER1NE]

Thats really dope , but Tom green did it and filmed the whole thing, drew on his own shit , ran from security and generally made it hilarious....

[sneak]

fuck banksy.

[boogerpicka]

banksy the pikey cunt

[andy]

Originally posted by crushkilldestroy@Mar 25 2005, 05:13 AM
i love banksy. he's got balls the size of watermelons to do shit like that.
Quoted post



nah not really.

[haunts]

he had a story on national public radio or npr the other day too. dude has a thick ass accent.

[laughoutloud]

i'd rate him if he racked some paintings.

[iloveyoursister]

dope.

[BARRY CLAVA]

Originally posted by sneak@Mar 26 2005, 01:51 PM
fuck banksy.
Quoted post

[ElectricitySucks]

can he actually do a fill in?

[heroin dart]

banksy is a joker :king: :haha:

[InfamousOne]

hahaha....that shit is tight...

[seeking]

ive always thought it was funny that you guys hate banksy so much. jealous are we? just cause your letters suck and you lack the imagination to do something different, that doesn't mean you gotta hate on dude for getting his.

besides, he doesn't even claim to be a writer, why hold him up to that standard? you wouldn't expect a garbage man who admits he's a garbage man to be able to fix plumbing would you?

[seeking]

seriously, ha how can you hate on this?
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/newfullsize/wildstyle.jpg
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/newfullsize/turfwarsheep.jpg

[andy]

Originally posted by ElectricitySucks@Mar 27 2005, 06:38 PM
can he actually do a fill in?
Quoted post


yes. if all this internet debating gubbins actually mattered i'd dig out some flicks for you. as it is, you'll have to take my word for it.

[boogerpicka]

No jealousy involved when it comes to banksy,i actually think some of his antics are amusing.I just think that painting chimpanzees on war memorials is a bit disrespectful,almost anything else is fair game.I'd quite like to see my granpa giving him a few licks round the domepiece with his walking stick. :shook:

[seeking]

the war memorial was probably asking for it, like a drunk girl in a short skirt.

[cor2 ssb]

He's got the balls to express his opinions using spray paint and sculptures to do his biding.

Kudos to his intellectual graff skills and kudos to his personal integrity.

-Piece-
Cor2 SSB

[Mr. Chad]

Originally posted by boogerpicka@Mar 28 2005, 01:10 PM
No jealousy involved when it comes to banksy,i actually think some of his antics are amusing.I just think that painting chimpanzees on war memorials is a bit disrespectful,almost anything else is fair game.I'd quite like to see my granpa giving him a few licks round the domepiece with his walking stick. :shook:
Quoted post



im sure banksy has political motives toward many of his actions some of you seem to find offensive. If he had no reason for painting on a warr memorial its kinda wack but im sure he had a reason.

[seeking]

maybe the memorial called his mum a whore.

[phels]

he didnt even do the war memorial thing, it was when some magazine gave away banksy stencils an some prik tryin to look good thought he would get busy

[El Producto]

seeking is all over banksy's willy.

[seeking]

nope, just like banksy, they gave away my password in a magazine and 'some prik tryin to look good thought he would get busy' and come on 12oz and ride his willy.

i actually hate banksy cause stencils arent graffiti. i hate anything that isnt rusto on a police station.

[little-G]

glad to see a brit mentioned :king:

he broke into a zoo in barcelona and mistook a kangaroo for a security guard :yuck:

[vodka_santa_mug]

Originally posted by seeking@Mar 28 2005, 12:22 PM
the war memorial was probably asking for it, like a drunk girl in a short skirt.
Quoted post



ha

[sneak]

i get annoyed when the media roll him out as a talking head on "the graffiti issue", and when he gets called "graffiti writer". when was the last time you saw a banksy inside / trackside / train (deleate as appropriate)?

[andy]

Originally posted by sneak@Mar 29 2005, 12:43 AM
i get annoyed when the media roll him out as a talking head on "the graffiti issue", and when he gets called "graffiti writer". when was the last time you saw a banksy inside / trackside / train (deleate as appropriate)?
Quoted post


approx. four years ago.

i get annoyed by people walking too slowly or stopping suddenly in supermarkets.

i cope.

[seeking]

sneak,
i feel you, i get annoyed when the 'wrong' people get all the credit for stuff, but at the same time, does banksy call himself a 'graffiti writer'? does he ask for that title? maybe he does, i dont pay alot of attention to him, but usually in these situations its the media pushing that idea regardless of what the artist claims.
eventually i've just decided that it really doesnt effect me much and to just go about my business as if it wasnt happening. it's not easy to do, but once you finally can let go of caring, life gets alot more pleasant.

[sneak]

^exactly.
what he does makes no difference to me, so i get on with what im doing and he can do what he does.

everytime he makes the papers, my parents use it as an excuse to ask if ive grown up yet.

[seeking]

ha.
every time they ask, you should steal their money then shoot heroin in the bathroom, passing out and pissing yourself.
that will teach them.

[andy]

Originally posted by sneak@Mar 29 2005, 03:38 PM
^exactly.
what he does makes no difference to me, so i get on with what im doing and he can do what he does.

everytime he makes the papers, my parents use it as an excuse to ask if ive grown up yet.
Quoted post


get on with what you're doing, but stopping occasionally to state your hatred of someone you've never met on the internet, you mean?

[andy]

...to maintain my neutrality have a butchers at this too, if you haven't seen it:

www.afflictedyard.com/banksy.htm (http://www.afflictedyard.com/banksy.htm)

pretty old news but some of you might find it interesting. great site that Afflicted Yard

*edit. bad link

[seeking]

what the fuck is a 'butcher'? ha.

and don't hate on random hate, it makes the world go 'round.

[andy]

butchers hook = look

a butchers, a look.

its Cockney rhyming slang, used by non-Cockneys like myself all over southern England.

random hate makes internet graffiti forums go round...

[seeking]

haha. thats the most ridiculous shit i've ever heard.

[punksishippies]

..actually it makes sence..forums are boring when everyone is agreeing..you run out of shit to talk about.






anyway..banksy :love2:

[seeking]

no man, read the thread. 'butcher' meaning 'look' is the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard.

internet graffiti forums are gods way of saying that he loves what we've done with women and unrealistic expectations of beauty.

[dketch]

he is a legend.............

[little-G]

go up the apple and pears and it will make sense.

[sneak]

^using the dog n bone may provide an insight too!

[seeking]

don't make me ban you guys for mocking me in a ficticious language i can't lower myself to understand.

[heroin dart]

aint a scoob.

[seeking]

now you're just making shit up.

[fatalist]

Banksy inspires the shit out of me, i give mad props to the man, dude is fuckin original.

[andy]

Originally posted by seeking@Mar 30 2005, 03:24 PM
don't make me ban you guys for mocking me in a ficticious language i can't lower myself to understand.
Quoted post


'ficticious', 'lower yourself'... :lol:

as stupid as it sounds it really does exist. next time you're bored google it!

[seeking]

i'm sure it does exist.
so do people that dress up in furry costumes and dry hump eachother till they suit their suits, but that doesn't mean it's a sweet thing to do.

you guys need 'real' slang...you know, stuff that's based on a completely inability to pronounce words properly. 'dun' 'finna', etc.

[imported_b0b]

Banksy: Like the stencils, hate the relentless publicity.

In the UK we got rhyming slang, in France they have verlan where you swap the first & last letters of words and in the States you put the izzle in words.

[The Hipster]

b0b don’t for get back slang like what they do in the states but you add agga after every sibyl.

[seeking]

people here dont really use 'izzle' though. never seriously anyway. it's always done in sort of self mockery.

wap the first and last letter? so bitch would become hitcb? ha? and that then becomes a word?

no offense, but your guys slang blows.

seeks/dizzie razcal blows too. stop trying to push your shitty b-rate rap stars on us.

seeks2/i do like your graff and your rock bands though. your girls have hot accents too (even if they have fuck all for teeth).

seeks3/i said 'fuck all' cause i thought it sounded like some sort of euro slang. i wanted you all to feel more comfortable.

[imported_b0b]

Seeks: that first/last letter thing is French so if probably works better in French rather than English and I don;t think EVERY SINGLE WORD can be done that way. It was more a case of pointing out there is slang all round the world, however stupid you deem it to be.

[seeking]

i dont really think it's stupid, i just say that so american writers feel better about ourselves. we have self esteem issues.
:(

[cade]

TRU

[imported_b0b]

Originally posted by seeking@Mar 30 2005, 11:01 PM
i dont really think it's stupid, i just say that so american writers feel better about ourselves. we have self esteem issues.
:(
Quoted post



haha

Anyway Banksy has done me a favour. I "acquired" a stack of Banksy books and was trying to sell them on ebay last week and there was very little interest. Re-listed the books this week and they are going like hotcakes.. All thanks to his New York visit and the subsequent world-wide media coverage he managed to generate. Here's to Banksy!

[hopeizm]

He went around a few years ago painting these 'designated graffiti area' stencils..... a few mates of mine actually pieced one of these walls which was right outside Paddington police station in the daytime (supposedly the most secure police station in England - its where they take terror suspects ect).... The police seeing this stencil on the wall just left them to paint it

Edit.... Respect to Banksy!

[sneak]

Originally posted by andy@Mar 29 2005, 03:54 PM

get on with what you're doing, but stopping occasionally to state your hatred of someone you've never met on the internet, you mean?
Quoted post


ok, fair enough i think my hatred of banksy could be replaced. i tend to lump all my hatred of stencils and street art being called graff, in the media on to him. probably because he is the main person they cite, i get sick of hearing about how "daring" he is in newspaper articles.

[FRESH_FRANK]

:chicken: FUCK BANKSY! I'D LIKE TO STENCIL THE WORD 'CUNT' ON HIS FOREHEAD....

no offence like ;)

[seeking]

well, that's the difference between the two of you. you go on the internet talking about what you'd 'like' to do, but never ever will. he goes into some of the most famous museums in america and makes the front page of newspapers all over the world.

who can spot the difference here?

[FRESH_FRANK]

Originally posted by seeking@Apr 1 2005, 05:09 PM
well, that's the difference between the two of you. you go on the internet talking about what you'd 'like' to do, but never ever will. he goes into some of the most famous museums in america and makes the front page of newspapers all over the world.

who can spot the difference here?
Quoted post



how about you dont know me to patronise me? how about wanksy RAN off a bus and off down the road when was spotted on a bus by a couple of us? don't talk to me like i'm some teenage mug. i'll colour the cunt in chrome for showing zero respect to PROPER writer's work in london..

if you get a hard on from banksy's art bullshit then thats your problem.

[seeking]

well then go for yours, rock star.

[secret chimp]

nathan barley
worn 70s class war punk aesthetic, done better by the sex pistols
niether good art or good graf

kiddy politics,obvious , babyish , twee ,
banksy is establishment , on the walls of the advertising agencies,media, music and production companies all over london, Tony Blair probably has one in his collection .it aint graf.
The police love it, his stuff dont get buffed in some boroughs cos the councillors love it,

mainstream

[dketch]

y hate on him cus he's done well 4 him self.........

[-Unztopbl750-]

Aright this thread is well dead but i fukn HAVE to have my say. Banksy may or may not be graff, really i think thats just semantics. What I have to say is that he has done some crazy boundary pushing. He is a all about quasi-anarchistic subversive type shit, and as such subverts graffitti itself. (For example see his 'Graffitti sculptures'- eg Rodin's 'the thinker' cast in bronze including drunk's traffic cone on the head and dropped in a public place like a graff piece, or framed paintings plus stencil additions, again hung in public spaces)

He freely admits he stencils cuz hes shit at pieces, but who can complain when he does such different and creative shit

One last word, he may have been adopted by Nathan Barley-style wankers and hence absorbed into the establishment, but that aint his fault. He is constantly inventing new shit. and soon will surpass the publicitysoaked wankfest many people seem to see him as now

God i sound like a proper fuckin pretentious basterd. Just enjoy banksys work and dont bother trying to box him into categories, cuz it dun work

[doerone]

yyea men the graff is my life







dxasda4life

[droptheknife]

Originally posted by FRESH_FRANK@Mar 31 2005, 10:54 PM
:chicken: FUCK BANKSY! I'D LIKE TO STENCIL THE WORD 'CUNT' ON HIS FOREHEAD....

no offence like ;)
Quoted post

hahahaha
oh and seeking why you gotta be a moody git?

[seeking]

i'm not sure what a 'git' is, but generally what you're seeing as 'moody' is what others think of as 'calling bullshit'. if people don't talk out their ass so frequently, i would probably spend most my time talking about puppies and tits.

[juspix]

WHATS THIS DUDE GONNA DO NEXT???

[fatalist]

^^^who knows, all i know is that i ordered his damn books and there're taking a long ass time to reach me.

[Spike]

Originally posted by b0b@Mar 30 2005, 06:52 PM
Banksy: Like the stencils, hate the relentless publicity.

In the UK we got rhyming slang, in France they have verlan where you swap the first & last letters of words and in the States you put the izzle in words.
Quoted post


b0b: Verlan is swapping the first and last -syllables-, not letters. And you can use it on any word, even single syllable words

[seeking]

how do you swap the 'first' and 'last' syllables in a word that only has one syllable?

cop?
dog?
fuck?

[caffeine]

Originally posted by Spike+Apr 11 2005, 12:54 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Spike - Apr 11 2005, 12:54 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-b0b@Mar 30 2005, 06:52 PM
Banksy: Like the stencils, hate the relentless publicity.

In the UK we got rhyming slang, in France they have verlan where you swap the first & last letters of words and in the States you put the izzle in words.
Quoted post


b0b: Verlan is swapping the first and last -syllables-, not letters. And you can use it on any word, even single syllable words
Quoted post
[/b][/quote]
I would sure like to see some examples of this "slang".

[promiscuous]

amazing.

[th3_monk]

thats some crazy stuff

[2 blaazed]

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/newfullsize/trooper.jpg

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/newfullsize/abassailant.jpg


haha

[heroin dart]

thas jokes, bump for banksy.. ;)

[8onus]

i went over to my moms yesterday and she asked me about this, she heard him on NPR, i was like "yeah, dudes cracked crazy", it was funny, my mom is apparently a huge fan now and in not so many words said "if you're gonna continue to be a street punk why can't you do something cool like that?" eh.