Banksy is apparently one of the most subversive and articulate artists of our time. His medium of choice is stencil graffiti on walls and buildings in major cities around the world. His aesthetic is the clean lines and detail of stencil art, and his tone is satirical, political, and sometimes anarchistic.
A friend of mine showed me his book "Wall and Piece", which showcases Banksy's art, around last Thanksgiving and I immediately loved it. But, I apparently forgot about him until my favorite "urban explorer" photog Xavier Nuez wrote a blurb about him and stencil artist Roadsworth on his blog last week.
Banksy is now famous around the world. He has pulled off such stunts as adding his own work to the British Museum of Art (it took something like a week for it to be noticed by museum staff, and it was eventually added to the permanent collection), replacing 500 of Paris Hilton's CDs with original (and rather biting) cover art and jacket, and stenciling a number of rather profound works on the wall that divides Israel from Palestine. His work is a social commentary, one that is most poignant given it's context. There is a great article from last year on weburbanist.
I've also embedded a bbc video about the elusive Banksy. It's about 8 minutes long but pretty fascinating. It showcases some of his most famous works.
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