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ABSTRACT
Buzzell relates how he had searched the streets of London to look for the famous graffiti artist, Banksy. He realizes
how impossible it was to find Banksy but his works, which can be found anywhere in the streets of London, make
people very happy.
FULL TEXT
Headnote
All I knew about the guy was stuff I read on the Web and his site, banksy.co.uk, which has a bunch of photos of his
graffiti art and stencils, press clippings of him sabotagingbig-name art museums with his work, and his manifesto,
which stopped me cold. It's a diary entry of a British officer who was one of the first to liberate a concentration
camp in 1945:
It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of
lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other
things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of
genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay
in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a
blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched
in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they
were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their
appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.
This Banksy might be a little bit more than just a wanted vandal with a can of Krylon spray paint.
Right after I checked into my hotel in central London, I went over to the concierge desk for a free map of the area. I
The piece below, captioned "Have a Nice Day," was done on the bridge on Old Street, East London. The palace
guard, right, has been done all over town; this one is in the South Bank.
Sidebar
Everytime I said Banksy's name, people smiled, I mean really smiled, like they were remembering something
cherished.
Sidebar
From July 9 to 16, Banksy created nine pieces on the Palestinian side of the West Bank wall, which he called on his
Web site "the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers." He also described this encounter as he
painted: "Soldier: What the fuck are you doing? Me: You'll have to wait till it's finished. Soldier (to colleagues):
Safeties off."
Sidebar
The outdoors of London, every conceivable public space, is Banksy's museum. "When explaining yourself to the
police, it's worth being as reasonable as possible," he advises. "Graffiti writers are not real villains. I am always
reminded of this by real villains."
Sidebar
Top: Banksy, in disguise, hanging his painting You Hove Beautiful Eyes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York this spring. Here, his advice for exhibiting in major museums when not invited to do so: "Take one cheap old
oil painting. Modify it to your specifications. Attach prosthetic nose and beard. Glue into place."
Sidebar
"Is Banksy the next-" I didn't even have time to finish the question. "Andy Warhol. Banksy is the next Andy Warhol."
People: Banksy
Volume: 144
Issue: 6
Pages: 198,200-203,250
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 01949535
CODEN: ESQRAV
Copyright: Copyright Hearst Magazines, a Division of Hearst Communications, Inc. Dec 2005