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Artist Hangs Own Artwork
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| jonze234 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many a visitor to New York's Museum of Modern Art has probably thought, "I could do that."
A British graffiti artist who goes by the name "Banksy" went one step further, by smuggling in his own picture of a soup can and hanging it on a wall, where it stayed for more than three days earlier this month before anybody noticed.
The prank was part of a coordinated plan to infiltrate four of New York's top museums on a single day.
The largest piece, which he smuggled into the Brooklyn Museum, was a 2 foot by 1.5 foot (61cm by 46 cm) oil painting of a colonial-era admiral, to which the artist had added a can of spray paint in his hand and anti-war graffiti in the background.
The other two targets were the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, where he hung a glass-encased beetle with fighter jet wings and missiles attached to its body -- another comment on war, Banksy told Reuters on Thursday.
"It was just an outsider's view of the modern American bug, bristling with listening devices and military hardware," he said.
An art Web site called www.woostercollective.com has posted pictures of the artist -- wearing an Inspector Clouseau-style overcoat, a hat and a fake beard and nose -- hanging up his work at the four museums and describing how he did it.
Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location in Britain, Banksy said he conducted all four operations on March 13, helped by accomplices who filmed him and provided distractions where necessary.
"They staged a gay tiff (lovers' quarrel), shouting very loudly and obnoxiously," said the artist, declining to give his real name or any personal details beyond his occupation as a professional painter and decorator.
It is not the first time he has staged such stunts. Last year he smuggled work into the Louvre in Paris and London's Tate, attracting attention in the British media.
"My sister inspired me to do it. She was throwing away loads of my pictures one day and I asked her why. She said 'It's not like they're going to be hanging in the Louvre."'
He took that as a challenge. "I thought why wait until I'm dead," he said.
His preferred creative outlet, graffiti on trains, was growing more difficult due to greater security so he decided to branch out into infiltrating museums. "I tend to gravitate to places with less sophisticated security systems," he said.
Officials at the Natural History Museum declined to comment on security. Museum of Modern Art officials said only that the offending picture was taken down on March 17.
It was unclear what gave the game away but Banksy's version of Andy Warhol's iconic images of Campbell's Soup Cans showed a can of Tesco value tomato soup, a discounted brand sold by a British supermarket chain.
"Obviously they've got their eye a lot more on things leaving than things going in which works in my favor," Banksy said. "I imagine they'll be doing stricter bag checks now."
He said the painting in the Metropolitan Museum, a small portrait of a woman wearing a gas mask, had been discovered after one day, while the others stayed up for several days. The paintings were fixed to the wall with extra-strong glue.
Asked how he managed to escape notice while putting them up on a busy Sunday at the museums, he said: "They do get pretty full, but not if you put the pictures in the boring bits."
his pictars are pretty funny and not to shabby either. |
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| AndskiSpeed |
| quote: | Originally posted by jonze234
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many a visitor to New York's Museum of Modern Art has probably thought, "I could do that."
A British graffiti artist who goes by the name "Banksy" went one step further, by smuggling in his own picture of a soup can and hanging it on a wall, where it stayed for more than three days earlier this month before anybody noticed.
The prank was part of a coordinated plan to infiltrate four of New York's top museums on a single day.
The largest piece, which he smuggled into the Brooklyn Museum, was a 2 foot by 1.5 foot (61cm by 46 cm) oil painting of a colonial-era admiral, to which the artist had added a can of spray paint in his hand and anti-war graffiti in the background.
The other two targets were the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, where he hung a glass-encased beetle with fighter jet wings and missiles attached to its body -- another comment on war, Banksy told Reuters on Thursday.
"It was just an outsider's view of the modern American bug, bristling with listening devices and military hardware," he said.
An art Web site called www.woostercollective.com has posted pictures of the artist -- wearing an Inspector Clouseau-style overcoat, a hat and a fake beard and nose -- hanging up his work at the four museums and describing how he did it.
Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location in Britain, Banksy said he conducted all four operations on March 13, helped by accomplices who filmed him and provided distractions where necessary.
"They staged a gay tiff (lovers' quarrel), shouting very loudly and obnoxiously," said the artist, declining to give his real name or any personal details beyond his occupation as a professional painter and decorator.
It is not the first time he has staged such stunts. Last year he smuggled work into the Louvre in Paris and London's Tate, attracting attention in the British media.
"My sister inspired me to do it. She was throwing away loads of my pictures one day and I asked her why. She said 'It's not like they're going to be hanging in the Louvre."'
He took that as a challenge. "I thought why wait until I'm dead," he said.
His preferred creative outlet, graffiti on trains, was growing more difficult due to greater security so he decided to branch out into infiltrating museums. "I tend to gravitate to places with less sophisticated security systems," he said.
Officials at the Natural History Museum declined to comment on security. Museum of Modern Art officials said only that the offending picture was taken down on March 17.
It was unclear what gave the game away but Banksy's version of Andy Warhol's iconic images of Campbell's Soup Cans showed a can of Tesco value tomato soup, a discounted brand sold by a British supermarket chain.
"Obviously they've got their eye a lot more on things leaving than things going in which works in my favor," Banksy said. "I imagine they'll be doing stricter bag checks now."
He said the painting in the Metropolitan Museum, a small portrait of a woman wearing a gas mask, had been discovered after one day, while the others stayed up for several days. The paintings were fixed to the wall with extra-strong glue.
Asked how he managed to escape notice while putting them up on a busy Sunday at the museums, he said: "They do get pretty full, but not if you put the pictures in the boring bits."
his pictars are pretty funny and not to shabby either. |
YES!!! Banksy does America, hes a legend :D:D:D:D:D check out his website, lots of good stuff on there |
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| mentalbarter |
hehe mint
the bug is good
i guess the tesco can wont be so effective over there |
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| ::TranceVanDyk:: |
maybe cause he.....SUCKS!!
if he has to resort to hanging his own artwork up in a world-renowned galleries, then he obviously isnt good enough to have it hung in that gallerie. |
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| jonze234 |
| quote: | Originally posted by mentalbarter
hehe mint
the bug is good
i guess the tesco can wont be so effective over there |
yea i didnt understand tesco? it said something that it was a low grade tomato soup. could you maybe explain it a little better. |
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| DJ Chrono |
| reminds me of an episode of tom green, when he hung up a painting he did called 'tiger zebra' in an art gallery. He would then pretend to look at it while other people were around, and started drawing on it with a marker.. AHahh that was a good one. The security was chasing him around also, :haha: |
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| Pheobius |
Tesco is a low supermarket in the UK (and lots of other places) and tesco value represents the cheapest of the cheap.
I think the idea of doing this has some merit, but if this kind of art was nay different it would detract from its artistic quality. Pop art wasn't supposed to be stunning artwork.
edit
It wasn't just popart though :/. I suppose the fact he had something to copy meant it wasn't art, art has creation as a pre-requisite. |
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| ierxium |
| I feel for security. How can they let someone like Bansky in? |
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| Perfect_Cheezit |
| quote: | Originally posted by ierxium
I feel for security. How can they let someone like Bansky in? |
theyre just art museums... |
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| ierxium |
| quote: | Originally posted by Perfect_Cheezit
theyre just art museums... |
That could easily be blown away. |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by ::TranceVanDyk::
maybe cause he.....SUCKS!!
if he has to resort to hanging his own artwork up in a world-renowned galleries, then he obviously isnt good enough to have it hung in that gallerie. |
Could you say anything more stupid?
I think you totally missed the point. :rolleyes: |
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