Banksy

Have you heard of the British street artist called Banksy? He started ad a graffiti artist but now has his pictures selling for millions. This is one of his typical works:

An original of this painting was sold by the famous auction house Sotheby's for more than a million pounds. Did you hear the story of what happened next?!! Concealed inside the frame was a document shredder - and just after it was sold one of Banksy's associates in the audience activated the shredder - and the painting was sliced to pieces in front of everybody! Anyway, it caused such a stir that the cut painting is now worth even more than it was before 😉I like Banksy, he is do clever and he has so much to say about everything that is wrong with the world, through his art. I want us to watch his film, "Exit through the Gift Shop". It is a totally crazy story - truth is stranger than fiction! And just how crazy and mixed up this world of ours is! And of course I am duty bound to post this one 😉

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a 2010 British documentary film, directed by street artist Banksy. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. The film charts Guetta's constant documenting of his every waking moment on film, from a chance encounter with his cousin, the artist Invader, to his introduction to a host of street artists with a focus on Shepard Fairey and Banksy, whose anonymity is preserved by obscuring his face and altering his voice, to Guetta's eventual fame as a street artist himself. It is narrated by Rhys Ifans. The music is by Geoff Barrow. It includes Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours".[1]

The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Since its release, there has been extensive debate over whether the documentary is genuine or a mockumentary, although Banksy answered "Yes" when asked if the film is real.[2]

***Banksy art in Brick Lane, East End, 2004

Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director, active since the 1990s.[1] His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.[2] Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.[3] Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist who later became a founding member of the English musical group Massive Attack.[4]

Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. Banksy no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall they were painted on.[5] A small number of Banksy's works are officially, non-publicly, sold through Pest Control.[6] Banksy's documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[7] In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film.[8] In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.[9]