I fear I may be forced to buy a decent camera and become a Flickr fiend . . . please feel free to PM hatemail if I turn into Geo or start posting pics of what I had for breakfast!

I wanted to go to this, then I went to the one at covent garden and realised that I don't actually want to see Banksy in a museum, I prefer him on the street where I first saw him.

Glad the pics were well received.

I'm no art whore and we only called in as we were passing by on vacation, but the format of the exhibition was on an amazing scale and major respect has to go to Bristol City Museum for essentially letting Banksy have a free rein to do whatever he liked over the 3 floors of traditional exhibits and gallery spaces.

Apart from the mocked-up studio scenario and roomful of canvas's and mounted pieces there was a hall of animatronic installations, the main reception/information desk was replaced with the burnt-out ice-cream van and Banksy had dotted random pieces or 'accessorized' existing exhibits (the usual mix of stuffed animals, fossils, art and artifacts etc) throughout the very traditional Edwardian museum.

According to all the hype, everything was installed overnight and only 4 of the Museum Top-Brass knew what was going on . . . all other employees were told it was some filming being done and it was a closed-set . . . it was free entry with Banksy's books selling for retail and some overpriced posters (not prints) available but all proceeds were going direct to the Museum (which given the volume of attendees would have netted them big £££). As part of the deal it was negotiated that all CCTV footage of installing and removing the exhibits would be destroyed to maintain the mystery.

Whether Banksy is one man, a network of people or a group working closely together, the diversity, quantity and complexity of the exhibition was astounding, and even if you think the social commentary is all piss and vinegar, pulling it off with this level of integrity made me a convert and brought a lot of trade, business and tourists to Bristol (not real high on the list of British cities to visit) in a time of economic doom and gloom.

I'm off to photograph my cup of tea and half eaten custard cream! . . . Twitter, Flickr or Facebook . . . I'm spoilt for choice!

I think it is one man, but in the early day's he had his "Banksy clones". Who would do smaller stencils, like the rats. This is how he got a lot of stuff out there and using the stencils, the artwork work would all be consistent.

Actually I think it's the other way. In the early days he was just him. He hooked up with Laz who effectively became the brains behind the project calling shots and/or pointing him in directions.
Also his artistic output is too broad for it to be just one man.
He's not a collective, like Faile, but he is no longer a lone tagger.

I've never really looked into Banksy 'mythology' but this was my impression after seeing the exhibition. It would be a major artistic leap from stencils on the street to animatronic animals and burnt-out Ice cream vans of the standard that were on display . . . there has to be a facilitator or someone developing and manufacturing all this stuff on his/their behalf . . .

HOLY SHIT!
I can't believe they did this! This is just around the corner from my flat and has been there for years and years, this peice is right on the high street and the pride and joy of Stokey...
This is depressing me.

http://tinyurl.com/l3r6dl
You may need to reload, the Hackney Gazette seems to get alot of run time errors... What do you expect, 's 'ackney, innit?

Maybe he gets people who don't know each other, to make different parts, but none of them know who it's for or what their part will be. Then he brings it altogether, proper secret squirrel.

Council in "acting like twats" shocker...what's weirder is they were trespassing on that woman's property to do it!!