Banksy is a pseudonymous English graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.Banksy's name and identity remain unknown, but a commonly cited 2008 Mail on Sunday investigation of several former schoolmates and associates that he is believed to be a former pupil at the public Bristol Cathedral School.[114][115] There has also been speculation that Banksy is a woman, or that Banksy is a team of seven artists.[116] In October 2014 an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested and his identity revealed. It has been stated that the reason for this secrecy is that graffiti is a crime.
According to website http://dismaland.co.uk/ Banksy is opening a large scale group show that is lampooning Disneyland. The show opens August 21. The "theme park" is located in Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom.[111] According to the Dismaland website Damien Hirst will be one of the artists represented in this show. The artist Jenny Holzer is also part of the project.
Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Observers have noted that his style is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris. Banksy says that he was inspired by "3D", a graffiti artist who later became a founding member of Massive Attack, an English musical group.
Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. Banksy does not sell photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.
Banksy's first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released in the UK on 5 March 2010.[8] In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film. In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.
