Mr. Sanguine's Home: Barely legal - Banksy in Los Angeles

Spent the last weekend trolling around Los Angeles and one of the highlights of the trip was a show by Banksy, a subversive artist specialising in witty and provocative stencils and other street art. His works are usually found plastered around major cities like London and San Francisco, this is one of the few times he's actually had a show with a collection of his artworks housed under one roof. The show was set up in total secrecy and the location of the exhibits wasn't revealed until opening day. The exhibition itself lasted only 3 days and I figured out why when I found the live elephant trotting around the makeshift living room, make that a live elephant painted like wallpaper. The installation piece spoke volumes but it bordered on illegal. Animal rights activists were up in arms when the discovery of the elephant was telecast over the news channels and tried to get the show shut down. Best that they could do was to have the paint removed and the elephant was exhibited in its natural color on the last day of the show. I was personally okay with the animal being there, it seemed pretty well taken care of, with an ample supply of carrots and water within easy reach.

A characteristic of Banksy's works is the often not too subtle hints at anti-establishment, subversion and anti-war, all portrayed in rather humorous situations. Combine that with unconventional methods of displaying his pieces (he likes slipping in his works into museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Natural History Museum in London), Banksy has a strong underground following and with the mainstream media as well.

The following is but a small sampling of works from this talented guerilla artist, many more examples may be found here.

The Apache gunship looks almost cute in this scene. Banksy often uses the Apache helicopter as an anti-war icon in many of his works.

Prior to the opening of the show, Banksy managed to pull off this stunt with a similar hooded figure in Disneyland.

A very different sort of Jungle Book.

This one literally had me in stitches.

This simple piece was somehow my favorite piece of the show.

"Picnic" was purchased by Angelina Jolie after she showed up to the opening with boyfriend Brad Pitt. At £120,000 it sounds like the most expensive Banksy piece sold to date. Trust the stars to spoil the market.