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I first heard of the graffiti artist Banksy in mid 2005 when Kottke blogged about him "stealing" gallery space by waltzing right into famous museums in New York and London and hanging up his own art. As far as the world knew, this had never been done before. Not only was it brilliant but hilarious too. The British Museum even added it to their permanent collection.

I eventually forgot about Banksy and continued on my spiraling internet path until last month when he pulled another stunt that gained internet fame. He replaced 500 Paris Hilton CD's in record shops with his own version featuring a single 40 minute remix track by Danger Mouse (snatch the mp3 here) and modifications of the original cover art featuring quotes like "90% of success is just showing up." Personally, I think that's hot. But I thought to myself... self, where does an underground, psuedo-anonymous artist get $5000 to blow on a cd-sabotage project.

Of course, I didn't realize he was such a big deal yet. Then, as I often do, I was browsing del.icio.us/popular one day and saw Banksy's latest art show Barely Legal (housed in a warehouse in LA). Basking in irony (and money) Banksy's oft anti-political/commercial messages were tagged with huge price tags (Bradgelina spent $400k) and mockery (one painting read "I can't believe you morons buy this shit").

As xicanarkista brought up, the most interesting thing about this line Banksy straddles between being underground (doing these forms of illegal art) and going mainstream (throwing an art show in LA, putting 100k+ price tags on your work and selling them!) is how this will be handled in the future. Will it hurt his edge? Does he care? It is interesting to ask these questions while seeing what his website's demographics are. Many are not as young as you would think (though most are male).

While in Orlando this past weekend, I picked up a book of his art titled Wall And Piece (though I, sadly, paid cover price for it at Urban Outfitters). Probably the first book of art I ever bought (if you don't count Found Magazine). I devoured the 200+ pages by the next day. Lots and lots of photos of his work around the world. Many will make you laugh and many will make you think. I found it quite inspiring, as a photographer, how he carefully chooses his canvas (walls, streets, buildings) and how that choice warrants a certain kind of message and interaction. They are also broken up by stories that bring some context to Banksy's motivations and ideas. Highly, highly recommended. It will make you want to be a graffiti artist too.