Banksy’s first street art piece in 2024 went up on Hornsey Road in Finsbury Park, northern London. Pictures of the work surfaced in different forums on Sunday 17 March. It’s a brilliant piece, life-size and site-specific, depicting a woman spraying foliage with a pressure washer on a wall behind a pruned tree.
Photos: @banksy
The new mural has some similarities with an illegal street art piece by Russian artist 0331c ( www.0331c.ru ), painted with a fire extinguisher in 2013 in Moscow:
Who else but Banksy could have come up with the idea to train more than a hundred stewards to behave as rudely as possible at his own art show? Now we know how it was done:
As reported by BBC on 30 December:
“The secretive artist normally lets his pictures do the talking but wrote his tribute to Allen for BBC Radio 4 obituary programme Last Word. Allen, one of the founders of the alternative comedy movement in the 1970s, died at the start of December. Banksy enlisted him to train the surly stewards at his dystopian theme park in Weston-super-Mare in 2015.
“Dismaland was organised in strict secrecy so in order to find the hundred or so stewards we needed, we advertised in the local paper for ‘runners and extras’ for a film shoot,” Banksy recalled in his statement.
“I was concerned that when these young people discovered they weren’t on a film set and in fact had to interact with the public all day, they might get a bit freaked out. So I asked Tony to come and host a few basic confidence-building workshops and hone their stewarding skills. It was essentially a pretty dry corporate gig for him.
“However Tony Allen was a born troublemaker. He took one look at the name of the event and for three days in the conference hall of a nearby hotel he trained the teenagers in his own image.
“He’d been left alone to get on with it, so come opening day we had no idea what was about to hit us. Tony delivered the most surly and incompetent employees in the history of hospitality.
“They were truly dismal, incapable or unwilling to even point out the fire exits. They ignored any requests for information, they popped the balloons they were meant to be selling, they threw people’s change on the floor, they even went up to random members of the public and licked their ice creams.
“Tony had instilled in them they should never break character, even when speaking to management. Our head of production lost their mind and threatened to quit. The council and police were not impressed and called a meeting.
“But by the end of the first day it was clear the stewards were a massive hit. They became by far the most talked about part of the show, overshadowing six months of my hard work and the efforts of 50 invited international artists.
“I had to hand it to him, Tony Allen really knew how to take the Mickey.”
The deliberately gloomy Dismaland, which featured works by Banksy and other artists he picked, ran in a former open-air swimming baths in the Somerset seaside town for five weeks.”
Banksy is back with a simple yet powerful anti-war message. A bittersweet reminder that Christmas is not a celebration of peace, joy, and overeating for everyone, especially not for the people of Gaza and the West Bank.
Photo: @banksy
As reported by The Guardian on 22 December:
“Banksy artwork stolen less than an hour after unveiling in south London.
Piece showing three aircraft on stop sign in Peckham was confirmed as genuine by the artist on Instagram.
Two men have been filmed taking an artwork created by Banksy from a south London street less than an hour after it was confirmed as a genuine installation. The artist confirmed the piece – a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones – was his in a social media post shortly after midday on Friday.
In a video shared on social media, onlookers watch as two men are seen taking down the sign at the intersection of Southampton Way and Commercial Way in Peckham at about 12.30pm. Witnesses can be heard saying “oh my god” on the soundtrack of the video as one of men takes the stop sign and runs off, with one woman saying: “It makes me so annoyed.”
The deputy leader of Southwark council, Jasmine Ali, said the artwork “should not have been removed”, adding: “We’d like it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy’s brilliant work.” She said the theft had been reported to the police “to help get it back”.
The aircraft on the stop sign resembled those from Banksy’s 2017 artwork Civilian Drone Strike, which depicted a trio of drones bombing a childlike drawing of a house. It was auctioned at Art The Arms Fair and raised £205,000 for Reprieve and Campaign Against Arms Trade.”
Banksy started the rescue organisation Louise Michel in the summer of 2020, and since then, the ship M.V. Louise Michel has been saving lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
By purchasing some high-quality Banksy-designed ephemera, you can now support the rescue effort. All sales directly support the ongoing work of Louise Michel. Link to shop: https://shop.mvlouisemichel.org
It’s an important twist in an ongoing legal battle between Team Banksy and Full Colour Black (FCB) – a licensing company specializing in popular images for international retailers.
As reported by The Sunday Times on 8 December, 2023:
“This week the artist filed an application for anonymity with reference to the Berne Convention, and three other arguments: that his work will become less valuable, that he will no longer be free to criticise others — especially those in power — and that his family will come under increased scrutiny.
A judge has ruled that Banksy can remain anonymous in defamation proceedings after the controversial street artist relied on a 19th-century treaty to remain masked. In the latest development of a £1.4 million claim brought by a greeting cards publisher over a social media post from Banksy, Mr Justice Nicklin gave a boost to the artist’s defence on Friday.
To maintain Banksy’s anonymity, the artist’s legal team had relied on a dusty treaty drafted more than 100 years ago in Switzerland to protect the copyright of artists. While Banksy’s lawyers relied on three other arguments to maintain his anonymity, it is his reference to the Berne Convention that his lawyers found most legally appealing.
Enrico Bonadio, a reader in intellectual property law, said that while the Berne Convention focused on copyright law, it could be interpreted as giving legal backing to anonymity for artists in a range of civil proceedings. However, he said the matter was a “grey area” in law that would need to be decided by the courts.
Andrew Gallagher and his company Full Colour Black (FCB) have filed a lawsuit accusing “the artist known as Banksy” of defamation, with the co-defendant named as Pest Control Ltd, the company that sells his artwork. In written submissions, Gallagher’s lawyers have stated that he “reserves the right to seek an order that [Banksy] identifies himself for the purposes of these proceedings”. Gallagher has the option open to him to make an application to remove the artist’s anonymity. His company, Brandalised, licensed a photograph of Banksy’s work to the fashion retailer Guess last autumn for use in its Regent Street shop window.
In a now-deleted post made on November 18, Banksy’s Instagram account, which has 12 million followers, used an image of a Guess shop window with the words: “Alerting all shoplifters. Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They’ve helped themselves to my art without asking. How can it be wrong to do the same to their clothes?”
The disputed post on Banksy’s Instagram.with the alleged defamation. Photo: @banksy
In its High Court claim, FCB, the trading company of Brandalised, alleged that it “contained defamatory words which referred to, and were understood to refer to, the claimant”. Now FCB is seeking damages and an injunction preventing further alleged defamation.
“[Banksy’s] post, by way of innuendo, meant and was understood to mean that the claimant had stolen Banksy’s artwork by licensing images to Guess without permission or other legal authority,” argues the company in its claim.”
As the title indicates, the book covers the early shows. It is edited by art historian Uli Blanché and published by Heidelberg University. The book has some very well written essays by real experts, and a wealth of fantastic information. It’s downloadable for free here: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arthistoricum/catalog/view/1201/2062/108482
The artist – at the time in his 20s – was interviewed by Mr Wrench, a former BBC arts correspondent, in the summer of 2003 to mark the opening of Banksy’s Turf War show in east London. An edited version was aired that July on the BBC’s PM programme. However, not all of the material was used. Many years later, Mr Wrench was listening to The Banksy Story podcast, and this prompted him to recover the full interview on a minidisc in his house.
The never-heard-before interview includes Banksy’s thoughts on his own art, on Charles Saatchi and many other issues. You can listen to it here:
There is little doubt that the person interviewed by BBC Radio is the same guy with a Bristol accent who was interviewed on camera by ITV reporter Haig Gordon before the opening of Turf War in July 2003 in London:
ITV’s Haig Gordon interviewed Banksy at the Turf War exhibition, July 2003.
Banksy’s unaltered voice in the two interviews above is strikingly similar to the voice of the person presented as Banksy in another BBC interview three years earlier at the Severnshed exhibition in February 2000:
BBC Bristol interviewed Banksy at the Severnshed exhibition, February 2000.
This line of thought in the “Who is Banksy?” mystery is supported by some photographs in Steve Lazarides’ book Captured from 2019, especially one on page 154 depicting a Banksy consistent with the alleged Banksy in the resuscitated ITV interview. Whether this person is “one of the Banksys” or “the Banksy” will never be known. The puzzle is part of the overall artistic expression, in which we all play a role.
As Steve Lazarides put it in an interview for the French documentary Most wanted from 2019:
“You will never be able to know who Banksy is. At least 50 to 60% of my time was spent trying to keep him anonymous.”
“How?” asked the reporter.
“We did all sorts of things; we did fake news stories; we were way ahead of Donald Trump on the fake news. Part of it was putting out fake news stories; I put the website in my name; and lots of other things I’m not going to tell you.”
Team Banksy hinted that when the show opened, they would take it on tour if it “proved popular.” On 26 August, Pest Control Office confirmed that there would be a tour, and they are now soliciting suggestions for locations and venues. Hopefully, this will bring an end to all the touring exhibitions with fakes and reproductions.
The new book, Cut & Run, 25 years of card labour – has the same mixture of great imagery and witty texts full of insights as Wall and Piece from 2005. As the title indicates, the content covers the exhibition, but there are also a lot of pictures we have never seen before and some great anecdotes from 25 years of illegal street art. It seems like the book is only available at the Cut & Run exhibition.
The Scottish newspaper The Herald was first to publish the story:
‘CUT & RUN’, which has been officially authorised by Banksy, will reveal for the first time the stencils used to create many of the artist’s most iconic works. Spanning from 1988 to the present day, Banksy calls the exhibition, which includes authentic artefacts, ephemera and the artist’s actual toilet, ‘25 years card labour’.
“I’ve kept these stencils hidden away for years, mindful they could be used as evidence in a charge of criminal damage. But that moment seems to have passed, so now I’m exhibiting them in a gallery as works of art. I’m not sure which is the greater crime”, the artist told The Herald.
The new exhibition is being staged at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Glasgow city centre, the main gallery of contemporary art in Scotland’s largest city. Opening this Sunday, it will run for three months and open all night at weekends. The Herald understands that if the exhibition proves popular, the show may then tour.
Banksy has launched a new exclusive website for the exhibition where one can book tickets: https://cutandrun.co.uk.
No photography is permitted in the main exhibition. The visitors can only take photos in a room after the gift shop, in what is presented as young Banksy’s boys-room:
Banksy’s interest in helicopters started earlyEarly drawing, signed A.M.W…Spitfire, signed A.M.WLord of the Rings poster by Jimmy CautyMagritte posterThere are lots of Christian references in Banksy’s imagery. This could a clue of how that interest started: Bible-school?
Banksy unofficial 