AndyMan 7 #1 March 25, 2005 Last week a British grafiti artist (dressed as Inspecter Clousseau) broke into 4 of New York's most famous art galleries, and installed his own art! Picture of him in action are here Reuters had this to say: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many a visitor to New York's Museum of Modern Art has probably thought, "I could do that." 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 www.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." --end quote. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
windcatcher 0 #2 March 25, 2005 now ya gotta give that man some credit, that's pretty creative Mother to the cutest little thing in the world... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tdog 0 #3 March 25, 2005 Remember the guy who changed the Interstate 5 highway sign in California... He dressed up as a CalTrans worker, painted his personal pickup, etc... The "change" was so well done, and added needed clarification to the sign, that Caltrans decided to keep it up. Is this the same guy? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkiD_PL8 0 #4 March 25, 2005 Wow, some of the stuff in the outdoor section of his site was amazing. Greenie in training. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #5 March 25, 2005 Bansky qualifies as a 'performance artist' more than a visual artist in many ways... the point isnt nessesarily about the art work (which none the less is very good) but instead about the statement made and the manner in which he does it... i've been a big fan of his graffiti efforts for a while...____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyingferret 0 #6 March 25, 2005 Nice meese rigs: http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/02.html-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #7 March 25, 2005 It's definately cool stuff. I had to link straight to this one, just because. http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/06.html#p My favorite is the happy face reaper. http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/03.html#p__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyingferret 0 #8 March 25, 2005 WOW...talk about hardcore. This will make you think. Not that I agree with it, but the delivery of the message...wow http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/index.html-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites