Tamy Emma Pepin: I heart Banksy

His identity might remain in the dark, but there is nothing obscure about Banksy’s artwork. Biting, downright witty and full of purpose, Banksy’s art makes me smirk in approval without fail. The man is a genius.

His pieces give life to dead walls and forgotten corners of cities around the world, offering some of the greatest satirical comments of all times. His work beautifies, questions and promotes reflection.

Of course, that is only my humble opinion, and many other people would disagree with me... in 2007, some London boroughs, such as Tower Hamlets, decided to treat all Banksy’s work as vandalism and remove them.

I guess England already had their share of rebellion in Winston Smith, protagonist of Orwell’s famous portrayal of pervasive government surveillance and control. Some sixty years after the masterpiece was written, England is still not ready for messages like these…

And so they erase them, some elitists still arguing that the man is a vandal rather than an artist….(?!”/$%?!/)

But as Banksy says:

In 2004, the Bristol native candidly walked into the Louvre and hung his own version of the Mona Lisa… “To actually go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up", he says.

Gotta love Banksy…

So instead of paying myself a trip to the museum on this lovely Saturday afternoon, I thought I’d travel the web and rediscover some of my favourite Banksy pieces...

Banksy got his hands on 500 copies of the Paris Hilton CD, which he trafficked with his own cover info and CD before redistributing them to more then 50 record stores across the UK...