Perhaps the Largest Art Gallery

The famously anonymous British graffiti artist, Banksy, caused quite a sensation this October by using NYC itself as a canvas, daily creating pop-up street art in various locations around the boroughs with zealous fans and curious onlookers practically stampeding to catch a glimpse of, photograph, and yes actually deface, the latest work. His site www.banksyny.com chronicles the most recent which includes sculpture, typography and stencil.

The mystique behind this artist is deliberate, no one knows who he really is and yet his works, quirky, political, insightful, sell for into the 6 digit figures.  Case in point, his “The Banality of the Banality of Evil”, a painting by K. Sager and “enhanced” by Banksy went up for auction with a starting bid of $74,000 and by October 31 is at $310,000.

In perhaps a very telling social experiment, intriguing at the least,  Banksy set up a booth for one day in Central Park, with a gentleman to sell his original but unnamed spray art for a mere $60 each.  Despite the Banksy frenzy around town, most passersby never gave a second glance, a few that stopped decided, “sure, why not?’, never imagining their new purchases a product of an artistic mastermind and worth as much as $31,000. Amazing!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX54DIpacNE

Would you have bought a Banksy?

-The Silent P