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Is Banksy Really Massive Attack's Founder Robert Del Naja?


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For more than two decades, art collectors and graffiti enthusiasts alike have speculated as to the true identity (or identities) behind Banksy, the artist whose socially and politically aware murals have regularly been valued in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Since a 2008 Mail on Sunday investigation, most people believe him to be ex-Bristol Cathedral School pupil Robin Gunningham, but journalist Craig Williams claims that Banksy is actually a collective of artists led by Bristol-based musician Robert Del Naja, the founder of British electronic music group Massive Attack.

Writing for the website Glasgow Live, Williams claims that five months of research have led him to the conclusion that Del Naja, known by his stage name ‘3D’, is the real identity of the iconic street artist.

Continue reading: Is Banksy Really Massive Attack's Founder Robert Del Naja?

Banksy 'Girl With A Balloon' Graffiti To Be Chiselled Off Wall Due To Rot


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Banksy's work of street art 'Girl with a Balloon' is to be taken from its London wall by Sincura Group, the company responsible for removing another of the artist's pieces and selling it for a fortune last year. Though some argue that it is right to leave what is arguably one of Banksy's most instantly recognisable pieces on its Great Eastern Street wall, Sincura claims that the paintwork is "rotting."

Banksy NY Residency
Banksy Recently Took His Work To The Streets Of New York.

The piece, which depicts a young girl carrying a red balloon in the wind, has been on the North London wall for more than 10 years and has experienced damage due to peeling paint and is currently partially concealed behind boards. "This piece has been completely forgotten about and thousands of commuters walk past it every day," said Tony Baxter, a director at the events company, via Sky News.

Continue reading: Banksy 'Girl With A Balloon' Graffiti To Be Chiselled Off Wall Due To Rot

Shill Bidding And Dodgy Back Stories - Banksy's Charity Artwork Doesn't Sell


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The story was simple, but charming: a woman, working at a thrift store raising money for homeless people with AIDs sells a painting for $50. Weeks later, the painting is re-donated, having been edited somewhat by controversial street artist Banksy.

Banksy Meat Truck in New YorkBanksy's Meat Truck in New York attracts attention

Everyone saw it as the perfect way to end a brilliant residency. Enigmatic graffiti man (or woman?) Banksy has been in the Big Apple, making waves, selling art for hardly anything and filling meat trucks with soft toys. The Banality of the Banality of Evil – the painting’s name – was a step too far.

Continue reading: Shill Bidding And Dodgy Back Stories - Banksy's Charity Artwork Doesn't Sell

A Sad End To Banksy's N.Y.C Stint After 'The Banality Of The Banality Of Evil' Auction Fails


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Bankey’s residency in New York was punctuated by many newsworthy events. He was reportedly chased and arrested by police, sculptures and graffiti art popped up all over the city, and unsuspecting customers purchased original pieces for a fraction of their potential worth.

Banksy New YorkBanksy's meat truck, stuffed with toy animals in N.Y.C.

Ostensibly, the climax of his residency, though, was the buying editing and reselling of an oil painting, which he named ‘The Banality of The Banality of Evil’. The painting, bought from a charity thrift store with a view to helping the homeless community of N.Y.C suffering from the AIDs virus, was then auctioned off for $615k. Or at least Banksy and the charity involved thought so.

Continue reading: A Sad End To Banksy's N.Y.C Stint After 'The Banality Of The Banality Of Evil' Auction Fails

Video - Banksy's 'The Banality Of The Banality Of Evil' Painting Unveiled At Housing Works Store


Banksy unveils his reworked painting entitled 'The banality of the banality of evil' (a title loosely based on the book 'Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil' by Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt) at the Housing Works Thrift Shop in New York which features a Nazi figure seated on a bench and looking out into the view of a river and hills.

Continue: Video - Banksy's 'The Banality Of The Banality Of Evil' Painting Unveiled At Housing Works Store

Video - Banksy Unleashes Wild Cat Graffiti On Yankee Stadium Wall


Banksy unleashes his penultimate piece of street art during his month long 'Better Out Than In' New York exhibition. The artwork features a wild cat of some sort wearing a collar and yawning while lying on painted yellow line on the wall of baseball venue Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx. On closer inspection, the cat's markings appear to be made up of graffiti art.

Continue: Video - Banksy Unleashes Wild Cat Graffiti On Yankee Stadium Wall

A Week In News: Lou Reed Dies, Celebs Go All Out For Halloween & Marvin Gaye's Kids On The Warpath


Lou Reed Robin Thicke Banksy Paris Hilton

Lou Reed Transformer Cover

The Loss Of Lou Reed: Legendary Velvet Underground rocker Lou Reed died on Sunday 27th October after succumbing to liver disease, having battled with poor health for months. The world reacted with sorrow to the loss of the 'Perfect Day' singer who saw sales of his solo albums and Velvet Underground records rocket in the wake of his death, aged 71.

Halloween Hijinks: The latest trend in the world of celebrities is to one-up each other in wearing the wittiest or most outrageous Halloween outfit this year. The last few days have been awash with viral images, gifs and videos of the rich and famous pulling out all the stops to make an impact. So far, we've seen Matt Lauer as Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson, Miley Cyrus as Lil Kim, Ellen DeGeneres as Nicki Minaj, Paris Hilton as Miley Cyrus, Sandra Bullock's bearded fisherman, Heidi Klum's elderly lady and Fergie and Josh Duhamel's double hit of Elvira and Riffraff.

Continue reading: A Week In News: Lou Reed Dies, Celebs Go All Out For Halloween & Marvin Gaye's Kids On The Warpath

Banksy's Nazi 'Vandalized' Painting Donated To Homeless/AIDS Charity


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Elusive street artist Banksy has donated a painting worth more than $200k to a N.Y.C non-profit organization involved in helping the local, AIDS infected homeless community.

Rebecca Edmondson, director of public relations at Housing Works, was at a thrift shop near Gramercy Park when a woman walked in wielding the customised oil painting.

BanksyA signature Banksy piece under a bridge in South London

Continue reading: Banksy's Nazi 'Vandalized' Painting Donated To Homeless/AIDS Charity

Video - Banksy Creates Utopic Garden In The Back Of A Truck


Banksy creates an outdoor wonderland in the back of a truck complete with sunlight, trees, rocks, a waterfall and a bridge. A large throng of people can be seen bustling about near it trying to get photos.

Continue: Video - Banksy Creates Utopic Garden In The Back Of A Truck

"The Terrorists Won": Banksy Slams One World Trade Center In Rejected Op-Ed


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UK street artist Banksy has made headlines again but this this time it's not for his artwork - rather his writing after he decided to express his feelings towards New York City's One World Trade Center by writing a piece with the intention that it would be published by the New York Times. However, the article was perhaps deemed too controversial by the Gotham newspaper who rejected Banksy's piece.

Banksy Sheep
Banksy's Controversial Art Has Littered New York Over The Past Month.

In the article, now published on Banksy's website, the graffiti artist complains that in building such a safe, "vanilla," skyscraper, the city of New York was effectively declaring the 9/11 terrorists' victory. He describes the One World Trade as "a one thousand foot tall sign that reads - New York - we lost our nerve."

Continue reading: "The Terrorists Won": Banksy Slams One World Trade Center In Rejected Op-Ed

Video - Banksy Unveils His 'New York Accent' In New Graffiti


A new piece of artwork by British graffiti artist Banksy is spotted in New York City near 25th Street and 10th Avenue. It features a message from the artist himself reading 'This is my New York accent' in the typical, often seen graffiti font. Beneath it, it reads '. normally I write like this' in perfect italics.

Continue: Video - Banksy Unveils His 'New York Accent' In New Graffiti

Video - Banksy Satirises The 'Ghetto' Life Of The Bronx With New Art Piece


People are snapped getting their photo taken next to the latest street art by Banksy between East 153rd Street and Elton Avenue in the Bronx. The art features an image of a young middle-class boy holding a spray can to what appears to be old (and less skilled) graffiti reading 'Ghetto 4 Life', while a man who looks like some sort of waiter holds a platter with two more spray cans balanced upon it.

Continue: Video - Banksy Satirises The 'Ghetto' Life Of The Bronx With New Art Piece

Landlord Hires Guards To Protect Banksy Piece, While The Street Artist Continues To Taunt New York Authorities


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The Banksy piece, which was surprisingly revealed on the side of a New York building recently, is now being protected by a team of guards. The woman, whose wall the artwork ended up on, is protecting it much like a museum piece, with 24/7 armed guards, plexiglass and a rolling metal gate.

Banksy Exhibit, Cans Festival
Banksy's work has inspired countless tributes.

The landlord hasn’t yet decided what to do with the piece, but her initial instinct was just to protect the mural for the public.

Continue reading: Landlord Hires Guards To Protect Banksy Piece, While The Street Artist Continues To Taunt New York Authorities

NYC Cynics Miss Deal Of A Lifetime As Banksy Flogs Work On The Cheap


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When you’re walking through a market or city center and you see a stall selling Banksy canvases, two things will enter your brain: that’s Bansky’s stuff, and it’s fake. The sheer amount of fake knock-offs have plagued the enigmatic artist’s work, and he was out to prove this – we reckon – with another stunt.

BanksyOne of Banksy's pieces in a tunnel near Waterloo Station, London

He armed an old guy with thousands of dollars worth of his work and set him up in Central Park on a stool, selling a number of his works – worth up to £20,000 – for around $60 each. That’s something near £38. A few lucky people grabbed the bargain of a lifetime.

Continue reading: NYC Cynics Miss Deal Of A Lifetime As Banksy Flogs Work On The Cheap

Banksy Art For Sale At $60 On New York Stall. Did You Get One?


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Banksy art for sale at just $60 - this is a joke right? Nope, not at all. The enigmatic Bristolian artist continued his New York City art show by putting valuable stencilled works - said to be worth tens of thousands of dollars each - up for sale for next to nothing in Central Park this week.

We've all seen the cheap Banksy knock-offs for sale at markets, art fares and car-boot sales and the artist's stall in New York - manned by a funny looking old guy - looked the very same.

A label simply advertised "spray art" while the canvasses featured some of Banksy's most recognisable and most replicated work including the monkey, the rat with a drill and the protestor throwing flowers. Only eight pieces were bought by three customers, generating a total haul of $420, according to The Verge.

Continue reading: Banksy Art For Sale At $60 On New York Stall. Did You Get One?

Was Banksy Unmasked During New York Art Blunder?


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A Banksy installation in New York's East Village went badly wrong on Saturday night (October 5, 2013), with one fan claiming it led to the identity of the enigmatic artist being revealed. 

Banksy had planned an elaborate art piece inside a white delivery truck, though when the vehicle suffered a technical failure, hordes gathered in New York to see what all the fuss was about. The glowing scene featured a waterfall, moving butterflies, a shining sun and foliage, though it lost power after about half an hour.

A curious witness, Thomas McKean, 26, stood back from the chaos in a bid to discover the identity of Banksy, whom he thought would appear to try and fix the problem. He spotted two men hanging around the truck wearing overalls, "I'm pretty sure one of them was Banksy," he told the New York Daily News.

Continue reading: Was Banksy Unmasked During New York Art Blunder?

New Banksy Piece Painted Over After Just One Day On New York Wall


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No more than a day after a new daubing by British graffiti artist Banksy had been sprayed on to a wall in New York City, someone has covered the piece up with paint. After announcing his month-long residency in the city, the artist's first work depicted two boys holding a spray can and reaching up to a notice that read "Graffiti Is A Crime."


Continue reading: New Banksy Piece Painted Over After Just One Day On New York Wall

Leonardo DiCaprio And Christie's To Raise $18 Million At Charity Art Auction


Leonardo Dicaprio Banksy

Leonardo Dicaprio, the actor currently doing the promotional rounds for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, is teaming up with Christie's for a charity auction next week to benefit environmental causes. Thirty-three pieces of art will go under the hammer on Monday (May 13, 2013) in New York and could raise $18 million.

"A lot of the works of this quality have never been at auction. We have what we believe are conservative estimates," Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christie's and the head of the sale, said in an interview, "It is going to be the biggest one-time environmental fundraiser ever," he added. Amongst the pieces up for sale are Zeng Fanzhi's oil canvas The Tiger and Bharti Kher's The Skin Speaks a Language Not It's Own, on fibreglass. Another is Mark Grotjahn's Untitled (Standard Lotus No. II, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01) an oil on cardboard mounted on canvas. Each other three works has a pre-sale estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Other artists include the Bristol artist Banksy, Peter Beard, Richard Prince and Elizabeth Peyton. "We explained that we wanted great works and they were very reactive because of the cause. The artists are very sensitive to the fact that we are destroying our planet," Gouzer said.

Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie The Great Gatsby hits theaters today. It has received mixed reviews from critics.

Continue reading: Leonardo DiCaprio And Christie's To Raise $18 Million At Charity Art Auction

Sale Of 'Stolen' Banksy Stopped At Last Second In USA


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Banksy has become one of the world's foremost street artists. With a distinctive style and often political subject matter his works have been recreated over and over on posters, cards and prints. The real deal, in contrast, is something that you can only get once, and selling a piece seems almost impossible given that they're painted on public structures, from walls to bridges. However, one original Banksy work titled 'Slave Labour' managed to be removed from the wall of a Poundland in Haringey, London and shipped to Miami where it was set to be sold. Since protests were made by local constituents of Haringey, at the 11th hour the sale has been stopped. 

As the Guardian reports, the painting of a boy making bunting (a critique on last year's Diamond Jubilee) was set to make around $700,000 (£460,000). Frederic Thut, the owner of the Fine Arts Auction Miami art house, admitted yesterday that two Banksy works, including Slave Labour had been removed from the auctions listings, but gave no reason for this.

"One of our two demands was that it doesn't sell and the other was that we get it back again, so we're halfway there," said Alan Strickland, a Haringey councillor who has been working to stop the sale taking place. "I will be writing to the auction house as a matter of urgency to clarify what happened and what will happen next, but for now we are really pleased that because of the pressure and the strong views of the people of Wood Green, a community campaign in London has had an impact in the US. It's a real victory for the people."

Continue reading: Sale Of 'Stolen' Banksy Stopped At Last Second In USA

Stolen Banksy Mural Set To Go For £450,000 At Auction


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A Banksy mural given to a community for free is going up for auction and is set to fetch up to £450,000, after it was taken from its location on the side of a Poundland in Wood Green, London last year.

The US-based Fine Art Auctions has listed what appears to be the mural, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting . The drawing was believed to be a shot at the use of cheap sweat shops to make bunting for the Jubilee decorations last year, and has turned up mysteriously for auction. Speaking to The Sun, Fine Art’s Frederic Thut wouldn’t reveal the identity of the collector, though he said it was “well-known”. He added “The collector signed a contract saying everything was above board. If he has lied to us it is important to know. But I don’t think he lies to us.”

Wood Green councillor Alan Strickland said, meanwhile: “Banksy gave our community that painting for free. Someone has taken it and plans to make a huge amount for themselves, which is disgusting and counter to the spirit in which it was given. No doubt Banksy will be horrified.” Banksy may well be horrified, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop whoever took the piece making a hefty profit. It’s listed for £250,000 on the site, though it’s likely to go for almost double.

Continue reading: Stolen Banksy Mural Set To Go For £450,000 At Auction

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