Art prankster Banksy sprays Israeli wall

[emad]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/entertainment_enl_1123233495/html/1.stm
Banksy's spray paint picture on security wall


Secretive "guerrilla" artist Banksy has decorated Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side.

The nine paintings were created on the Palestinian side of the barrier.

One depicts a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side.

Banksy's spokeswoman Jo Brooks said: "The Israeli security forces did shoot in the air threateningly and there were quite a few guns pointed at him."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4748063.stm

[DistressedAmerican]

1. I LOVE BANKSY!!!! Art Activism Is Where It Is At!

We are visual creatures and such projects can really draw folks into an issue!

Go Banksy!

[emad]

2. Maybe he should change his name to WestBanksy....

?

[SheepyMcSheepster]

3. i just saw a little article on him in wired magazine

i really dig his stuff.

[emad]

4. Banksy said he was threatened by Israeli security forces

[noamnety]

5. nominated

I love banksy; these are some of my favorites from him.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. wow

[Kraklen]

6. That's some good work.

Good on him.

[DistressedAmerican]

8. Kicker And Thhird Nomination For Greatest!

[Burried News]

9. Is Banksy open for suggestions?

[Burried News]

11. Or perhaps...

[ConfuZed]

10. This belongs here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=124

[Richard Steele]

12. Banksy is awesome; I just can't say enough about his work!

[emad]

13. Kick!

The man's a genius

[emad]

14. Banksy: A guerilla in our midst - today's Independent feature

Banksy: A guerilla in our midst

Dismissed as a vandal and a prankster, the mysterious graffiti artist Banksy sneaked his works into the world's greatest galleries. Now he's targeted Israel's separation wall. Louise Jury pursues a man on a mission
Published: 06 August 2005

His critics may have long dismissed him as an irresponsible prankster, scarcely one step up from school dropouts carving slogans on park benches. But the British graffiti artist Banksy, who earlier this year planted a hoax rock painting in the British Museum depicting a spear-wielding caveman pushing a supermarket trolley, may finally convince the doubters that he, and his imposing stencilled images, are more than just a joke.

This week he risked the bullets of the Israeli security services to stencil nine paintings on to the Palestinian side of Israel's separation wall. They included pictures of children digging a hole, breaking through the wall, and another of a ladder apparently going up the wall and over to the other side. For an artist who built his reputation by spraying large images, among them policemen with smiley faces and masked rioters lobbing bunches of flowers, it is arguably his most political statement to date.

For Steve Lazarides, the manager of www.picturesonwalls.com, which sells Banksy's original work and screenprints and publishes his books, the Palestinian venture was a political statement totally in keeping with previous work.

"He's one of the few artists around who actually has something to say in his art. Most of his work is highly political," Mr Lazarides said yesterday. It works on lots of levels and there's humour in it, but at least 90 per cent is a commentary on society. It is way beyond a joke and has far more resonance than most of the work considered 'proper' art."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article304042.ece