Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist whose pieces portray political and social messages. His stencil street art has been displayed in numerous cities throughout the world.
April 2010 marked the month of the premiere of his first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, in San Francisco and five of his pieces appeared in various parts of the city. Then in May 2010, seven new Banksy pieces appeared in Toronto and Ontario, Canada. At the same time as the premiere of Exit through the Gift Shop in Royal Oak, Banksy left his mark in several places in Detroit and Warren. Shortly after the Detroit piece showing a little boy holding a can of red paint next to the words "I remember when all this was trees" was excavated by the 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios. They claim that they do not intend to sell the work but plan to preserve it and display it at their Detroit gallery.
In late January 2011, Exit Through The Gift Shop was nominated for a 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Banksy released a statement about the nomination, where he said, ""This is a big surprise... I don't agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I'm prepared to make an exception for the ones I'm nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me." Leading up to the Oscars, Banksy blanketed Los Angeles with street art.
The statement on Banksy's website states: "You're welcome to download whatever you wish from this site for personal use. However, making your own art or merchandise and passing it off as ‘official’ or authentic Banksy artwork is bad and very wrong." I'm not sure if this is just an example of Banksy's sense of humor... but it seems ironic that they would scold against such a thing when most of his work consists of adding something to some other artist's work.
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