Last weekend in Britain the elusive graffiti master Banksy art directed The Cans Festival, an event being called the greatest showcases of guerilla street art in recent memory, hell perhaps the best ever. Over 30 artists
from all over the world created pieces in an unused Eurostar tunnel beneath Waterloo Station. (Click here for images). Some 28,000 pedestrians wandered through and checked out the 691 stencil pieces along the half-mile underground strip near where Ray Davies once mused about Terry meeting Julie. The stencils are supposed to stay on permanent display.
He keeps busy, this Banksy does. A few weeks earlier in April, he pulled one of his greatest stunts yet: painting a piece under the watchful eyes of closed circuit security cameras. The piece was done on an Oxford wall behind
a security fence. Working under the cover of a three story scaffolding – apparently no one ever bothered to ask for a building permit or questioned the artist as he painted – he created an instant subversive classic. The image of a child painting the words "One Nation Under CCTV" on a wall while a policeman takes his picture is a classic example of the artist's humor and his ability to seamlessly integrate his art into the terrain. The world is this dude's pallette and Banksy is simply one of the greatest social satirist working today. He's painted on the Israeli security wall. He's illegally hung his work at the Louvre in Paris and at the Tate in London. Just today there are reports of him painting on the streets of New York City. The fact is, Banksy is everywhere, except where you might be looking. And that's pretty fucking genius.
[Photo: Getty]