The mysterious British graffiti artist spreads his messages in amazing and unique art...
Believed to be born in either 1974 or 1975 in Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol he has covered the world in amazing graffiti. Whilst serving as an eye catcher his art also shows his thoughts and feeling of todays life.
The weird thing about Banksy is he is so talented but never once has sold any of his art. Instead he decorates the streets for everyone to see.
Banksy's life so far...
Banksy is said so have been the son of a photocopier and he trained as a butcher before being caught in the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s. Banksy then became part of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew in 1992-1994. Heavily influenced by local artists Banksy was well known in Bristol's underground scenes.He then started to use stencils along with free hand work when he had a very close call with the police. One night he was painting the words "LATE AGAIN" on the side of a passenger train when the police turned up. As his mates ran to the car Banksy dived under a dumper truck. While laying there he knew that to get away with this kind of graffiti he'd have to cut his painting time by over half. It was then when he noticed the stencilled plate on the bottom the the fuel tank. After finding this technique he took to new and dangerous graffiti tasks and become widely known in Bristol and London for his unique and risky work.
In 2002 Banksy had his first exhibition in Los Angeles. It was held in the 33 1/3 Gallery.
In 2003 Banksy held an exhibition in a warehouse. It was called Turf war and he painted on animals. Although the RSPCA confirmed the conditions were safe an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.
In 2004 Banksy created a large quantity of spoof £10 notes and someone threw them into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival. The note had been edited so that Princess Diana's head replaced the queens and instead of "Bank Of England" Banksy changed it to "Banksy Of England".These notes sold for £200 each on Ebay!!!
Banksy held another exhibition in 2006 in Los Angeles called Barely Legal. The exhibition featured a live elephant in a room painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.The exhibition also shown off lots of Banksy famous art which he'd re-sprayed onto canvases. Along with gratified police vans, abused angels and a sinking telephone box, the exhibit shown off the stencils that Banksy had actually used to make his art.
In 2007 Banksy paid a tribute to two graffiti arts that were hit by an underground train in Barking, East London. The artists were named OZONE and WIZE and Banksy knew them through OZONE writing over his iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. He drew both Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns.
Transport for London painted over the image as it was said to be "graffiti" and it created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime".
Banksy hit the same spot again but instead of the actors holding bananas he made them so that they held real guns but dressed as a banana. OZONE sprayed over it and wrote "If it's better next time I'll leave it" in the bottom corner of Banksy graffiti.
After hearing about the grafiti artists death Banksy painted over his own art and sprayed an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull as a tribute to OZONE.He the wrote on his website: "The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote 'If it's better next time I'll leave it' in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic.' Ozone - rest in peace"
Now being a well known graffiti artist Banksy held his first ever Official exhibition in New York and was called "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill".The exhibition featured animatronic pets which included a hen looking over her chicks which were actually move McDonalds chicken nuggets and also a rabbit putting on make up in the mirror. This was to express his thoughts on animal cruelty and chemical testing on animals.
In 2009 Banksy came to Bristol and held his own exhibition in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition was called Banksy vs Bristol Museum and was his biggest yet. More than 100 works of art were shown and also 78 completely new works including a vandalised ice cream van. What do you think of Banksy?
Bethlehem Wall
Israel began building a huge wall after the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) launched lethal suicide bomb attacks on Israeli cafes and buses.
The wall has watchtowers which are occupied by guards with sniper rifles and walkie-talkies. The wall is 8 metres tall in places and is miles long. Anyone wanted to get across to the other side will be searched asked for identification and could even be turned away from ever entering Bethlehem. To express his feelings towards the wall Banksy took the risk of graffiti art all along the side of it.
The pictures resemble freedom and send a message to all those to come across the wall.
Old man: "You paint the wall, you make it look beautiful"
Banksy: "Thanks"
Old man: "We don't want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall, go home."
Banksy's Rats
Banksy is well known for his rats. Rats are hated, hunted and prosecuted for no real reason. They are so small and insignificant yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations down. I believe Banksy can connect which. Being a graffiti artist can make you lots of enemies and can get you in all kinds of dirty, dark places. Banksy is hunted for what he does but yet still carries on living his life and spreading his art like a rat could potential spread a disease. 
Banksy Rat posters
Banksy takes on a central park
Banksy also managed to break into a central park in Barcelona and leave his mark.Banksy was said to sneak in around 3 in the morning. As he was creeping around the zoo a patrol car took him by surprise so he dived into a nearby bush. After laying completely still for a while he heard foot steps. Thinking it was the cops he parted the ivy and came face to face with a kangaroo.
He had got a Spanish kid to translate the words "Laugh now but one day we'll be in charge" on a piece of paper (this is a well known quote from Banksy and he has written this message in quite a few of his art works including animals). After searching around his pockets for the piece of paper he couldn't find the translation so instead of writing in English he decided to spray jail house style counting lines around the enclosure.
Unfortunately pictures of his work at the zoo cannot be found on the internet but are featured in Banksy's book.
Banksy's Wall and Piece
In the book Banky talks more about his life and experiences, some of which I have gone over in this lens. There's tons of his artwork in the book which you've most likely never seen before and cannot be found on the internet.
It's a great read and shares loads of Banksy secrets and tips on painting with stencils, just in case you're thinking about being the next Banksy and brightening this world up a bit.
Wall and Piece
Amazon Price: $13.82 (as of 05/28/2012)
Banksy goods
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