The craziest things. The craziest things people tried to smuggle on board a plane

In 2008, the British Daily Mail claimed that the British street artist's real name was Robin Gunningham, a Bristol native born in 1973. The man in the photo, published by BBC World News a year earlier, is working on what would later turn out to be Banksy's famous flower creation.

2. He played soccer with young revolutionaries in Mexico

Banksy was the Bristol goalkeeper football team Eastern Cowboys and Cowgirls. In 2001, the team went on a tour of Mexico and Banksy joined them in a game against the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Inspired by the struggle for freedom of a group of young revolutionaries, Banksy created another masterpiece of street art.

3. The main shareholder of his printing company is the creator of the group Gorillaz

According to Will Ellsworth-Jones' book Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall, Picture On Walls' main shareholder is the comic book artist, designer and creator of the band Gorillaz.

4. His collaboration with Damien Hirst sold for $1.9 million

In 2008, a work entitled "Pest Control" was created by Banksy in collaboration with English artist Damien Hirst, was sold at auction in New York for 1 million 870 thousand dollars.

5. Celebrities collect his work

In 2006, Angelina Jolie spent a total of more than $300 thousand on his works, which included a painting called “Picnic.” Christina Aguilera's collection includes three works by Banksy, including the painting “Queen Victoria as a Lesbian,” which the singer bought for $38,000.

6. Banksy had to tell his mother that he works as a house painter.

When asked by his mother why all his clothes were covered in paint, Banksy replied that he worked as a painter.

7. He donates to charity

The English underground artist has repeatedly provided assistance to charities that research eye diseases and help restore sight to blind people. Mention of support similar projects can also be found on Banksy's website.

8. His manager worked for Sean Penn

Banksy's manager Holly Cushing used to work for American actor Sean Penn. The artist sought the help of an Englishwoman during his show in Los Angeles when he needed someone so well connected that he could [literally] help him find his elephant. Holly became an important figure in the behind-the-scenes business aspects of Banksy's career.

9. Banksy only asked for £1 for an installation at Bristol City Museum.

That among the historical exhibits and artefacts in the Bristol City Museum and Art gallery works by Banksy would be presented, only two museum employees knew. However, Banksy only asked for one pound as an installation fee.

10. The Turf War exhibition caused numerous protests, although he distinguished himself as an animal rights activist

In 2003, Banksy organized an exhibition in one of the warehouses called Turf War (“Struggle for Influence”), during which the artist painted animals. And although the paint did not cause any harm to the animals (pigs were painted in police uniforms, sheep appeared as concentration camp prisoners, Andy Warhol's face was on the cows), and the exhibition was approved by the inspector of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, such an action caused mass protests against cruelty to animals.

11. Banksy created the title card for an episode of The Simpsons.

Has everyone seen the intro for the third episode of the 22nd season of the most popular animated series in television history? If not, this annoying misunderstanding will be corrected by the video above. However, several years before this debut, Banksy used the famous scene with Bart Simpson in his work.

12. He traded two Glastonbury tickets for the right to paint a trailer.

Although Banksy's identity remains shrouded in mystery, in 1998 he convinced a couple to paint their trailer in exchange for two tickets to music Festival Glastonbury. The couple graciously agreed, not knowing that one day they would sell the $1,000 mobile home for $500,000.

13. Adult Swim aired a fake interview with Banksy

Although the interview turned out to be quite funny, many realized without prompting that it was a parody.

14. “Barely Legal” was not Banksy’s first exhibition in Los Angeles

Banksy's first exhibition in Los Angeles was a show called Existentialism (2002), not the Barely Legal event, which also had incredible success. The first exhibition was curated by the 33 1/3 gallery.

15. Banksy played on the name of a French film festival

In 2008, Banksy invited 39 artists from around the world to paint a road tunnel in London. The name of the festival, Cans Festival, is a play on words that recalls the famous French film festival in Cannes.

16. Banksy created a group of experts to combat counterfeiting

Considering the fact that the price of prints and paintings varies from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, it was quite logical that Banksy decided to create a group of experts whose main goal is to establish the authenticity of the artist’s works and combat fakes. The appearance of fakes is prevented by a team called Pest Control.

17. The premiere of the film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” took place at the Cans festival

The British premiere of the documentary took place at famous festival, which was only possible by invitation. Music group Exit Through the Gift Shop, whose title the artist used for his film debut, Banksy donated one of his works as compensation. The documentary, nominated for an Oscar in 2011, grossed more than $5 million worldwide.

18. Banksy dedicated graffiti to the deceased art critic

Original version worldwide famous graffiti, based on a scene from " Pulp Fiction"directed by Quentin Tarantino, depicted the characters of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta with bananas instead of pistols. London transport workers painted over Banksy's work, after which he returned and depicted the actors holding guns, but this time dressed in banana costumes. This time, Banksy's work was painted over by a 19-year-old graffiti artist named Ozone, who promised to leave the next version if it turned out to be better than the previous one. A young artist who criticized Banksy was tragically killed by a train. Banksy returned to the spot and painted an angel in a bulletproof vest holding a skull. " When we lost Ozone, we lost a fearless graffiti artist and, as it turns out, quite an astute art critic"Banksy wrote on his website.

19. Banksy's early work was unknowingly painted over

In 2011 one of early works Banksy, " Gorilla in a pink mask", was painted over by the new owner of the building that formerly housed the club. New owner knew nothing about Banksy. It is reported that the Gorilla in the Pink Mask has been partially restored.

20. Banksy redeemed himself after his work led to the eviction of a homeless man

Banksy painted a water tank in Los Angeles with the words: " It looks a bit like an elephant" A man named Tachova Covington lived in this tank for seven years. Banksy's innocent prank not only attracted the attention of fans, but also prompted collectors to buy the tank and evict Covington from the art object. After admitting his mistake, Banksy gave the poor guy enough money to live in peace for a year. In an interview with the Independent, Covington stated: " No better man than Banksy... He was an angel to me. He helped me more than anyone in my entire life.».

The attention of the FURFUR editors has always been focused on the works street artists and, naturally, to the figure of the most famous of them - the Bristol hoaxer Banksy. Behind last year he managed to make his own film, become the hero of documentaries and books, release his own collection of caps, draw several new works, and so on. FURFUR has already written about some events, but in this material we decided to collect all the most important things for the year - both those we described earlier and those that remained behind the scenes.

Documentary on Channel 4

The British television channel Channel 4 released a fifty-minute documentary, dedicated to the war between two graffiti artists - Banksy and Robbo. Robbo is a kind of king of English street art, his tags on London Underground cars began to appear in the early eighties, and many also call him the man who shaped everything distinctive features British street art. But Robbo has long since retired as a graffiti artist, leaving behind an army of followers and several famous tags on walls around the world.

One of these tags was located in London on a wall near a canal - it was probably the only remaining reminder of the former greatness of the graffiti artist King Robbo, which the young provocateur from Bristol Banksy at the end of 2009 almost completely sketched and turned into own work(in the image above), which provoked the outbreak of war between him and Robbo, and in to a greater extent- between groups of fans of one and the other. Robbo had to get down to business again: first, he responded to Banksy on the same wall, and then called him “a toy in the hands of a group of PR people.” How it all ended and who actually took part in this war can be found out in the Channel 4 documentary.

Collection of 7 Union caps with works by Banksy

Just a week ago, the Japanese brand 7 Union released a real gift for fans of graffiti artist Banksy - a series of caps with several of his works. These are classic five-panels that will be available for sale in mid-November in the brand’s online store. All photos of caps can be viewed in this material.

Unauthorized exhibition and stolen Banksy works

At the end of August, unknown people stole several parts of the walls with pictures painted on them. famous works Banksy is from Palestine, and the owners of the Keszler Gallery and Bankrobber Gallery exhibited this without special permission. Initially, only a video appeared on the Internet showing how these parts of the walls were packed and transported from Palestine to England, but at that time there was no reliable information that this was not another provocation. Until photographs have appeared from the Keszler gallery, where the exhibition is taking place and anyone can look at Banksy's works, which were supposed to remain on the walls of Palestine. This event greatly angered the artist’s fans and provoked many scandals. Below you can watch the very first video published by the owners of Keszler Gallery.

Book of Myths and Legends Associated with Banksy

In early October, Gingko Press published a book by journalist and writer Mark Leverton, Banksy: Myths & Legends, in which he tried to collect all sorts of myths and legends that the famous graffiti artist Banksy managed to create around his mysterious image. It took the author more than three years to compile all the materials for this hundred-page publication - during which time he himself lived in Bristol, hometown Banksy, and communicated with his inner circle. The book costs only ten dollars and can already be ordered on Amazon.

Mark Leverton, book author: “For me, all these stories associated with the figure of Banksy are direct proof of his incredible courage, originality and ability to think damn outside the box. This book is a true celebration of anarchy and the spirit of protest."

Lost work on one of the walls of Berlin

In mid-September, one of Banksy's works, painted by him in 2003 during an art festival at the Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien gallery, was restored in Berlin. The graffiti, titled Every Picture Tells a Lie, depicted soldiers with wings and smiley faces instead of faces, and was covered over with several layers of paint and other designs. Also, a little earlier, specialists restored another work by Banksy, Gorilla in a Pink Mask, painted over in Bristol by an administrator cultural center, who had never heard of Banksy and just decided to whitewash the walls.

Documentary film by Banksy

At the beginning of August this year, Banksy filmed and published a documentary about hooligan pranks and anarchist actions. The hour-long television film was shown on the British Channel 4. The Heroes Antics Roadshow (the title parodies the name of the Antiques Roadshow program) included, among others, the British Michael Fagan, who in 1982 broke into the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace, and the Belgian Noel Gaudin, who threw cakes at Bill Gates, Nicolas Sarkozy, Bernard Henri-Lévy , Maurice Bejart and Jean-Luc Godard. The film also featured the first interview with the man who placed the grass mohawk on the head of the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in London.

In addition, the film shows promotions Russian art group"War". Earlier, Banksy organized a sale of his posters, and donated all the proceeds (about 4.5 million rubles) to the needs of “War”. The Antics Roadshow was posted on YouTube in parts, below is the second of them.

Sculpture near St. Paul's Cathedral

Just last week Banksy unveiled his new sculpture near St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The composition represents a large board for playing Monopoly, in its center is the figure of a bankrupt millionaire who holds out his top hat for donations. New sculpture Banksy gave it to activists of the controversial Occupy Wall Street movement.

Road sign in England

At the end of summer, a new work by Banksy appeared on the Internet. In his next work, he greatly departed from his usual style - provocative social stencil designs and inscriptions. This time the Englishman's creation took more simple form- automobile road sign, installed on the side of the road, with the message: “Welcome to the West Country. Please don't make fun of our accent."

Painting on a wall in Bristol

This summer, a serious scandal erupted in the journalistic community, which was associated with the fact that employees The newspapers News of The Worls, a cultural weekly that positioned itself as a sister newspaper to The Sun, was wiretapped telephone conversations stars The scandal ended with James Murdoch, the son of the owner of The News of the World and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, announced the closure of the newspaper - now there is a stub on the publication’s website with the inscription “Thank you and bye.” A little later - on August 5 - a photograph of him appeared on Banksy's official website new job, ridiculing the situation described above.

Another short film about Banksy - B Movie

This summer, another short film dedicated to Banksy, B Movie, appeared online. This picture lasts only thirteen minutes and talks about early work the artist - why he chose this particular style, why he uses stencils, whose works he was inspired by, and so on. Almost the entire film consists of interviews with Banksy himself and with people who knew him well personally when he was not yet so famous: 3D from the group Massive Attack, artist Damien Hirst, some English gallery owners and just his close friends. The entire tape was posted in its entirety on YouTube.