Banksy

A colleague gave me a book for Christmas (Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything) which unfortunately I already had and had already read. (Hey, that last phrase is rather cute!)
So she swapped it for a $40 gift card which I promptly forgot about until she mentioned it a week or so ago. Today I went off to Whitcoull's just to check what they might have of interest, and came across Banksy's Wall and Piece, which I didn't have and now have.

I already had and had already read;
I didn't have and now have.

Anyway, Banksy's style is fairly familiar, in the sense that it's copied a good deal around the place through people using a similar stencil approach to graffiti - although seldom with Banksy's rather anarchic wit. Check out his website, where there are plenty of examples of his work. He's probably become a bit more respectable in a way, since most of the art on the website has a more permanent look than a lot of what appears in the book. Without photos, many of his art works would have vanished.
The great thing about Banksy is that he's a peace anarchist, and a man with a sense of humour. The book is full not just of his witty paintings, but also his witty texts. And he can certainly paint, something he says all graffiti artists should learn to do....

Banksy remains anonymous (to the general public) and supposedly has written: "I am unable to comment on who may or may not be banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like banksy to me."