Banksy - Subverted Artwork (Take that Paris Hilton!)

Notoriety is arguably the greatest achievement for a modern artist, and few artist have made such a notorious name for themselves in the past couple of years than England's Banksy. Known for his grafiti that appeared throughout the walls of London while keeping his identity completely anonymous, Banksy has expanded his street artwork to graphic statements on
animals and guerrilla stencils on reproducitions of classical paintings. His innovative methods have lead to many controversial art exhibits, including one in which he painted a live elephant so it would blend in with the show's wallpaper. In celebration of his notorious work, Star Clipper is now carrying the collection "Banksy: Wall and Piece".

"Wall and Piece" compiles Banksy's work from his early days as a grafiti stenciller through his major exhibits up through 2005. Most interesting is his famous subverted artwork, where he would sneak "vadalized" reproductions of classical paintings into a major art museum and hang them as if they were approved to be on display. My personal favorite is "Show
me the Monet", a reproduction of Monet's "Water Lily Pond" in which Banksy reworks the landscape to look more like a junkyard, with old shopping carts and street cones distorting the serenity of the original image.

Unfortunately, becuase the book stops at 2005 it dosen't collect Banksy's 2006 altercation of Paris Hilton's debut album. Reworded with titles such as "Why am I Famous" and reimagened to make Hilton either appear nude or with her dog tinkerbell's head grafted to her body, Banksy distributed the faux disc, with remixed noise by "it" producer Danger Mouse, to over 40 different UK record stores. The CD was quickly discovered and pulled from the selves but not before a few lucky Hilton fans bought the disturbing Banksy copy. Don't worry though, I wouldn't tell you about something without at least giving you a link to check it out for yourself. So click here to see the Paris Hilton vs. Banksy work, and if you want your own copy your going to have to just browse ebay.


While we can all agree that Hilton had it coming, Banksy is more than just a prank artist and his work is deserving of the awesome collection "Wall and Piece". So pick it up and then go make some art yourself, with the Banksy reminder that its always fun to pick on those megalomaniacal celebrities!

-Jon