3. The Elusive Street Artist

What about street art? The term refers to usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. It gained popularity during the graffiti art boom of the early 1980s and continues to be applied to subsequent incarnations. Nowadays, one of the most famous street artists is Banksy, a pseudonymous graffiti artist, political activist, film director and painter from Bristol. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique.

Works of the elusive Banksy have sold for over $500,000 a piece. Among his fans are hotshots Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reeves, Chris Martin of Coldplay fame and Christina Aguilera. One of the artist’s key themes is a calculated contempt for art’s monetary value. So, during his New York residency he he set up a booth outside of Central Park on Fifth Ave., and had a salesman sell his artwork for $60. In the course of the day, only $420 worth of his work was sold.

This is one of the comments of the video on youtube:

You can find out more about Banksy in this documentary.

This is the trailer for Exit Through the Gift Shop. Directed by Banksy, it is a little puzzle-box of a documentary. It's perfectly designed and pitched to be enjoyable on multiple levels: on one as an entertaining, illuminating mini-history of "street art" and on another - one entirely more convoluted and entertaining - as a light-hearted send-up of both street artists and their patrons.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy