Banksy's Art Coup

Every time I'm winding low, something comes along and cheers me up. Today it was a British artist who goes by the name of 'Banksy'. I don't know his real name, but for the good laugh I got, he gets a standing ovation. Banksy is a Professional Painter, Decorator, and Graffiti Artist - with a fine sense of humor and enough verve to put it into practice.

So what exactly did Banksy do? Well, he decided not to wait for the four top Museums of New York to contact him and got in touch with them himself. He showed up at all four - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, and American Museum of Natural History; the Guggenheim Museum was spared the honor as Banksy with unusual modesty decided he wasn't up to hanging in between two Picassos just yet - in one single day and saved them the long drawn out selection procedure and furthermore all the bother of framing and hanging. He had brought along his own well-framed, properly labeled favorites and hung them up or rather stuck them to the walls himself - with extra-strong glue.

Banksy, who spoke to Reuters over the telephone from an undisclosed location in the UK, said : "This historic occasion has less to do with finally being embraced by the fine art establishment and is more about the judicious use of a fake beard and some high strength glue. They're good enough to be in there, so I don't see why I should wait."

So there his art-works remained for public viewing for several days until the Museum Staff - who, incidentally, hadn't been informed of Banksy's self-initiative and hadn't noticed his disguised persona (in an Inspector Clouseau-style overcoat, a hat and a fake beard and nose ) bequeathing them some additional treasures - noticed and took them down.

Here's the list of the works he hung. If you want to appreciate them personally, go to http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html and www.woostercollective.com

1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5000 years of art - Great American Painting Wing - 'You have beautiful Eyes' - a painting of woman wearing a gas mask - vandalized oil painting - installed on 13 March 2005 - removed

2. Museum of Modern Art, NYC - 3rd floor walkway - 'Discount Soup Can' - an artwork showing, in the tradition of Andy Warhol, a Can of soup, with 'Tesco , Value, Cream of Tomato Soup, 400 g , best before end: see can end', printed on it - screen print on paper - installed on 13 March 2005 - removed

3. Brooklyn Museum - Great Historical Painting Wing - 'Soldier with Spray Can' - the Colonial-era soldier is shown standing against a wall with graffiti that says 'No War' - vandalized oil painting - installed on 13 March 2005 - removed. Incidentally, this one is 2 foot by 1.5 foot (61cm by 46 cm) and he had no trouble taking it in and installing it.

4. American Museum of Natural History - 'Withus Oragainstus', United States - Dead Beetle with glued on sidewinder missiles and satellite dish - Hall of Biodiversity - installed on 13 March 2005 - removed

The Beetle, of course, is my favorite. According to Banksy, it is 'just an outsider's view of the modern American bug, bristling with listening devices and military hardware'.

This isn't Banksy's maiden attempt at ensconcing his work in Art Museums. Last year he had his work gracing the Louvre in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, and The Natural History Museum in London.

In the Tate, in October 2004, he hung an Oil Landscape, traditional except for a police tape and the title 'Crimewatch UK Has Ruined The Countryside For All Of Us'.

His addition to the Natural History Museum, London, was a stuffed rat wearing sunglasses, a silver chain, a spray can, and a backpack - the 'Banksus Militus Ratus'

Of his decision to infiltrate some of the best places in the Art World, Banksy says, "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.

So he didn't, and now he's famous while still alive. How many artists today can boast of having had their art-works displayed at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, Brooklyn Museum, NYC, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, the Louvre, Paris, The Tate Gallery, London, and the Natural History Museum, London?

Banksy is also renowned for:

1. Stencilling images of animals and people - including two uniformed policemen kissing one another - on top public buildings.

2. Scrawling 'I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring' on to the wall of the elephant enclosure in London Zoo.

3. Creating 'The Dunce' - a replica of Rodin's 'The Thinker', only with a traffic cone on the head - and placing it under the Westway motorway in London in July 2003.

4. Printing 50 sheets with images of £10 notes showing Diana's face on seventh anniversary of her death.

5. Illustrating the cover of a Blur album as well as the walls, bridges, trains, and buses of London. Banksy says, "Graffiti writers are not real villains. I am reminded of this by real villains who consider the idea of breaking in some place, not stealing anything and then leaving behind a painting of your name in 4ft-high letters the most retarded thing they ever heard of".

In this latest Art Operation, Banksy was aided by accomplices who filmed him and provided distractions where necessary. He says, "They staged a gay tiff (lovers' quarrel), shouting very loudly and obnoxiously".

Banksy really gets a larger kick out of decorating trains with graffiti than from hanging in famous museums, but these days, owing to greater security measures, it is a tad difficult to express yourself creatively on trains. So he'll probably be concentrating more on museums. "I tend to gravitate to places with less sophisticated security systems," he says.