Banksy has literally defaced a statue in his latest work, replacing the face of a replica statue with pixels as a political statement:

Banksy titled the statue “Cardinal Sin”, and designed it as a comment on recent crimes perpetrated by the Catholic church—a response to the child abuse scandal that was covered-up.

In a statement, Banksy said: “I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one.”

It’s a statement, no doubt, but is it worthy of sitting alongside the works of Van Dyck and Rubens?

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Oh, that guy Banksy. Maybe he's tired of spraying graffiti on walls, so he moved on to cows. Well, at least it's better than Wim Delvoye tattooing pigs! Link - via Waslijn and Skull Swap

Photo: Beth PH/Flickr

The elusive urban artist Banksy (supposedly) created this art piece of Rich Uncle Pennybags down on his luck for the Occupy London protesters. Link

I know you Neatonauts love to argue about what is or isn’t art, so these cool art installations are a great subject for debate. From a bloody phone booth by Banksy to Mark Jenkins’ surreal sculptures, there’s sure to be something for everyone in this WebUrbanist article.

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Move over, Banksy – there’s a new avant garde graffiti artist prowling the streets. Behold, Hanksy! via Wooster Collective

Previously on Neatorama: T.HANKS: The Tom Hanks Trash Bin

This makes perfect sense! Banksy’s Flowerchucker and the video game Angry Birds were made for each other! Flickr user bortwein75 dreamed up this mashup. You can see variations of it at the link.

Link via Technabob | Previously: Banksy Painting Costume

Remember the The Simpsons opening sequence directed by the guerilla artist Banksy? Well, he’s uploaded the original storyboard of the now famous intro to his website. Take a look: Link – via Buzzfeed

That’s not a painting by British street painter Banksy. It’s a costume designed and worn by George Schnakenberg to look like Banksy’s “Love Is in the Air” stencil. Schnakenberg painted his clothing and bundle of flowers to create the necessary impression when properly posed. At the link, you can view several process photos showing how he did it.

Link via Make

I saw the film Banksy directed, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” and I thought, oh, we should see if he would do a main title for the show, a couch gag. So I asked Bonnie Pietila, our casting director, if she could locate him, because she had previously located people like Thomas Pynchon. And she did it through the producers of that film. We didn’t have any agenda. We said, “We’d like to see if you would do a couch gag.” So he sent back boards for pretty much what you saw.

Jean also verified that he’s sure that he was dealing with the real Banksy, and not an imposter:

The original boards that we got from him were in his style and were certainly by an extremely proficient artist. We were dealing with the person that represented him making the movie. I haven’t met him, I don’t even know what he looks like, except what the Internet suggests. And he’s taken credit for it now so I’m pretty sure it’s him. We went through the people that made the movie so I assume they would know how to get to the real him.

Link via Super Punch | Image: Fox

Street artist Banksy visited New Orleans in 2008, decorating various buildings with his distinctive paintings. He encountered an enemy who became known as the Gray Ghost.

Fred Radtke made it his mission to erase every bit of graffiti in the city long before Banksy’s arrival, sweeping down the street with his paint roller in hand. The anti-street-art crusader passed quietly through each neighborhood, obliterating all traces of spray paint with his own signature splotches of gray – hence his nickname. Some locals celebrated his dedication to keeping New Orleans clean, while others decried his assault against free expression.

The Gray Ghost upset some property owners because an original Banksy work increases the value of a building considerably. Banksy responded by incorporating the Gray Ghost in some of his works. The battle with the Gray Ghost eventually came to an end in court, but today only one original Banksy image remains in New Orleans. Link -via Rue the Day

Tonight’s opening sequence of The Simpsons was written and directed by street artist Banksy. It may be disturbing to some viewers. -via Laughing Squid

An incident in Detroit raises several questions about street art. Renowned British graffiti artist Banksy visited a crumbling factory in the city and painted a wall.

Discovered last weekend, the stenciled work shows a forlorn boy holding a can of red paint next to the words “I remember when all this was trees.” But by Tuesday, artists from the 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios, a feisty grassroots group, had excavated the 7-by-8-foot, 1,500-pound cinder block wall with a masonry saw and forklift and moved the piece to their grounds near the foot of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit.

The move — a guerilla act on top of Banksy’s initial guerilla act — has sparked an intense debate about the nature of graffiti art, including complicated questions of meaning, legality, value and ownership. Some say the work should be protected and preserved at all costs. Others say that no one had a right to move it — and that the power and meaning of graffiti art is so intrinsic to its location that to relocate it is to kill it.

The gallery defends its action by pointing out that the artwork would have been destroyed soon along with the building. Others respond that Banksy may have intended for that to happen. And then there’s the fact that the context gave the painting it meaning in the first place. One could say that while Banksy broke laws against trespassing and vandalism, the gallery is guilty of theft. The property owner hasn’t said anything about it yet. No one yet knows who, if anyone, stands to profit from the incident. Link -via Metafilter

(Image source: Banksy)

What do you do if you are a member of a band and someone keeps sending you emails claiming to the the artist known as Banksy, and asking you to change the name of your band? That actually happened to the band Exit Throught the Gift Shop. The emails were from Banksy! The artist hoped to convince the band to change their name in order to prevent confusion with his movie of the same title, and offered original artwork as an incentive.

It turned out that the mystery man was the elusive graffiti artist and the band agreed to change their name.

They have now rebranded themselves as Brace Yourself.

Keeping his promise, Banksy then sent a huge painting to his home featuring a black and white Grim Reaper driving a dodgem car.

The Banksy painting has been valued at £200,000 but the band plan to display it at a gallery rather than sell it.

Link – via quazen

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sagest.

In a rare statement Banksy said: ‘The people in Bristol have always been very good to me – I decided the best way to show my appreciation was by putting a bunch of old toilets and some live chicken nuggets in their museum. [...]

He added: ‘This is the first show I’ve ever done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my ictures up rather than scrape them off.’

The exhibition – called Banksy Versus Bristol Museum – consists of more than 100 items and will run for three weeks.

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