‘Banksy Does New York’ Premiers Tonight Monday, Nov. 17 on HBO, 9:00 p.m. EST
“Banksy Does New York” by Chris Moukarbel chronicles the month-long residence that the pseudonymous British street artist, political activist, painter and film director, from
Bristol, England, known as ‘Banksy’ (“Exit Through the Gift Shop”), displayed throughout the city of New York last October, 2013.
For those who don’t know Banksy, no one has ever seen him before. His fans want to be the first to see his work, the police want to catch him in the act,
and the collectors want to display his work in galleries. So last October s/he and his team, Pest Control, and Holly Cushing announced that the graffiti
street artist would display one piece of art somewhere within the five boroughs, one a day for the entire month of October, 2013.
One piece of art work per day in an undisclosed place around New York, eluding to where it might be via social media, sent his followers on a scavenger
hunt frenzy, as they hoped to be the first to arrive, filmmakers filming or requesting footage from others, bringing out the best and sometimes the worst
in people.
Act fast, catch him if you can, because, often times, the works were painted over a few hours later, because it was painted on private property. Also,
everyday was not a painting, there were also video clips, a display of a skeleton sitting in a bumper car, and gimmicks, selling his work at a kiosk near
the Metropolitan Museum for only $60.00 making only $420.00 for the day, meanwhile unsuspecting customers found out later that they were worth $250,000
each. Auctions with one of his works raising $615,000 for the Housing Works, also the occasional entrepreneur or con artists covering his works with a
cardboard box and asking spectators for $5.00 to snap a photo of it.
Has he become a sell out now that he has become more commercial and well known? Spot jockeying placing his artwork near others?
Day 1: LES: Allen Street, 4 hours later, it was painted over.
Day 2: Chelsea: 25th Street and 10th Ave
Day 3: Chelsea: 24th and 6th Ave
Bushwick, Brooklyn, St. Mark’s Place, Lower East Side, Ludlow, ‘Crazy Horse’ painting depicting the 2 journalists and 4 Iraqi civilians killed in the Iraq
War, East NY, Brooklyn, 5 Pointz Queens, 45–46 Davis Street, 69th/38 St in Astoria, Jay and Staple Street in Tribeca, Cook Street near Graham Avenue in
Bushwick, 7th and Cooper Square in the East Village, West 51st Street/12th Avenue, Elizabeth and Houston, 24th and 10th Avenue Chelsea, Staten Island, 79th
and Broadway in UWS, South Bronx, 456 East 153rd Street, Flushing Queens, Willet’s Point, 127th and 35th Ave, the Sphinx made out of a pile of rocks, 157
East 23rd Street, Sunset Park Brooklyn, Greenpoint Ave and Noble Street, Coney Island 2812 Stillwell Avenue, Gramercy Park, East 162nd and Jerome, and LIC,
35th Street in LIC, Queens near the LI Expressway. ‘Save Five Points’.
