I had the day off from work today and picked up a copy of my neighborhood weekly, "Chelsea Now," as I was walking out of the gym. During my post-workout- pain-reflection- ceremony on my couch, I happened to read that one of the art galleries on West 27th St was exhibiting the work of Banksy, a well-known (and pseudo- anonymous) English graffiti artist. And, there was only one day left to see it! So I hit the shower and took a walk north to meet-up with Lloyd and check it out. Ah, the joy of days off in NYC! According to Wikipedia, "Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist in the late 1980s as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ)" and over the years got mixed attention from both the public and the art world. During the past few years he made some lucrative sales but it wasn't until earlier this year that he officially launched into another stratosphere. In February, "Sotheby's auction house in London auctioned three Banksy works and reached the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction of over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England." Over the next day, five more sold for between £31,200 and £96,000. Not bad for a street artist (or anyone for that matter!). One thing I absolutely love about Bansky is his sense of humor which is obvious from his work and his reaction to his own success. On the the second day of the auctions in February, he added the following to his website, "I Can't Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit." Ha!
If you're not familiar with his work, I highly recommend browsing his site: www.bansky.co.uk
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