Nobody doesn't like Banksy

OK, maybe Queen Elizabeth doesn't like Banksy. And maybe if you're the building landlord, depending on what image he puts on your wall, you might not like Banksy. But it's hard not to love the work of an anonymous graffiti artist who has this much wit and such a comprehensive command of potent imagery as this fellow has. The image above, done in New York City, is rumored to have been commissioned by the building owner.

His work is in a number of museums. Or was, anyway. In some, it only stayed for a couple of hours before the guards noticed that something new had been smuggled into the place and surreptitiously stuck on the wall.

Banksy is the nom de brush of a so-far-unidentified British graffiti artist who is believed to be male and born about 1974. His renderings can be witty and edgy commentaries on our consumer culture but they can just as easily be damning political commentary. They are never mundane.

Executed quickly with the aid of large-scale, pre-cut stencils and a limited palette of spray-paint colors, Banksy's works, when they can be removed or pried loose from their building exteriors, have sometimes commanded sums in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, though it's not clear that the artist himself realizes any of that profit.

Soon we'll get to see a film made with his co-operation. Exit Through the Gift Shop is scheduled for release, Spring, 2010.

There's a link to his own web-site here, which includes the trailer for the movie, graffiti he has posted around the world and photos of Banksy art in museums.