IDrinkSprite Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 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 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." http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/24/art.prank.reut/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushkilldestroy Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 i love banksy. he's got balls the size of watermelons to do shit like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AW Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Link to photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AORAone Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 my favorite banksy is the one where he paintd the cross walk over the car and up the wall, the guys great. pure and simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
type R Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html has pictures and a video of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherwhiteboy Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 he made world news this am on NBC don't ask me why i was up that early to see it. Never the less is made my day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.T Boy Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 any one remember tom green doing this on tv? good work banksy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
type R Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 yeah, he would add trees and shit to the paintings with magic marker in front of the tour group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidRain_ Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 i seen that on the news also. my mother yelled at me to go watch the rest of the lil segment. word to banksy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Tonin Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 so thats who it was...all cnn and msnbc would say was "a british graffiti artist"...ballsy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeine Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Originally posted by type R@Mar 25 2005, 06:42 PM yeah, he would add trees and shit to the paintings with magic marker in front of the tour group. Quoted post Link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASER1NE Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Thats really dope , but Tom green did it and filmed the whole thing, drew on his own shit , ran from security and generally made it hilarious.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sneak Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 fuck banksy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerpicka Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 banksy the pikey cunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Originally posted by crushkilldestroy@Mar 25 2005, 05:13 AM i love banksy. he's got balls the size of watermelons to do shit like that. Quoted post nah not really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haunts Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 he had a story on national public radio or npr the other day too. dude has a thick ass accent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughoutloud Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 i'd rate him if he racked some paintings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iloveyoursister Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 dope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARRY CLAVA Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Originally posted by sneak@Mar 26 2005, 01:51 PM fuck banksy. Quoted post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricitySucks Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 can he actually do a fill in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone gone forever Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 banksy is a joker :king: :haha: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfamousOne Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 hahaha....that shit is tight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 ive always thought it was funny that you guys hate banksy so much. jealous are we? just cause your letters suck and you lack the imagination to do something different, that doesn't mean you gotta hate on dude for getting his. besides, he doesn't even claim to be a writer, why hold him up to that standard? you wouldn't expect a garbage man who admits he's a garbage man to be able to fix plumbing would you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 seriously, ha how can you hate on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Originally posted by ElectricitySucks@Mar 27 2005, 06:38 PM can he actually do a fill in? Quoted post yes. if all this internet debating gubbins actually mattered i'd dig out some flicks for you. as it is, you'll have to take my word for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerpicka Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 No jealousy involved when it comes to banksy,i actually think some of his antics are amusing.I just think that painting chimpanzees on war memorials is a bit disrespectful,almost anything else is fair game.I'd quite like to see my granpa giving him a few licks round the domepiece with his walking stick. :shook: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 the war memorial was probably asking for it, like a drunk girl in a short skirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cor2 ssb Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 He's got the balls to express his opinions using spray paint and sculptures to do his biding. Kudos to his intellectual graff skills and kudos to his personal integrity. -Piece- Cor2 SSB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chad Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Originally posted by boogerpicka@Mar 28 2005, 01:10 PM No jealousy involved when it comes to banksy,i actually think some of his antics are amusing.I just think that painting chimpanzees on war memorials is a bit disrespectful,almost anything else is fair game.I'd quite like to see my granpa giving him a few licks round the domepiece with his walking stick. :shook: Quoted post im sure banksy has political motives toward many of his actions some of you seem to find offensive. If he had no reason for painting on a warr memorial its kinda wack but im sure he had a reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 maybe the memorial called his mum a whore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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