banksy

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

as featured in the guardian

Keeping his identity a closely guarded secret, the graffiti artist Banksy has made a name for himself with provocative images stencilled around the streets of London. Here we show a selection of images from his recent trip to the Palestinian territories, where he has created nine of his images on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier. Read the news story of his visit here.

For more examples of Banksy's work, click here.
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You may not have heard of him, but you've probably seen his work. From policemen with smiley faces to the Pulp Fiction killers firing bananas, Banksy's subversive images are daubed on walls everywhere.

And this weekend (July 18-21 2003) he's bringing his work from the streets into a gallery with a show called Turf War. For the address of the exhibition, see www.banksy.co.uk/turfwar.

All photographs taken by Steve Lazarides. Read Simon Hattenstone's interview with Banksy.
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Banksy is Britain's most celebrated graffiti artist, but anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal. The day he goes public is the day the graffiti ends.

His black and white stencils are beautiful, witty and gently subversive: policemen with smiley faces, rats with drills, monkeys with weapons of mass destruction (or, when the mood takes him, mass disruption) little girls cuddling up to missiles, police officers walking great flossy poodles, Samuel Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction firing bananas instead of guns, a beefeater daubing "Anarchy" on the walls. He signs his pieces in a chunky, swirling typeface. Sometimes there are just words, in the same chunky typeface - puns and ironies, statements and incitements. At traditional landmarks, he often signs "This is not a photo opportunity". On establishment buildings he may sign "By Order National Highways Agency This Wall Is A Designated Graffiti Area". (Come back a few days later, and people will have obediently tagged the wall.)

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