Spoof Artist 'Hanksy' Takes Banksy One Step Closer To Hollywood
Up until now, Banksy's dalliance with Hollywood has stopped at an Oscar nomination and selling the odd print to Brad Pitt.
But now, thanks to a mischievous artist spoofing his style, the stencil king is being linked with one of America's biggest movie stars - though not in a way his fans could have ever predicted...
A rival street artist calling himself 'Hanksy' has - for reasons unclear - fused the work of Banksy with the face and films of Tom Hanks in a series of stencils discovered on the streets of New York.
The result, to pick just one, sees Banky's famous stencil of a rioter preparing to throw a bunch of flowers replaced with Tom Hanks preparing to throw Wilson, the blood-smeared volleyball he 'befriends' in the 2000 film Castaway.
Compared to the street art 'wars' Banksy is used to engaging in, during which he has battled with rival Robbo to dominate Camden's canals, going head-to-head with Hanksy is a far trickier proposition. Like Batman preparing to confront the Joker, he must be wondering quite how you're supposed to combat insanity.
Far more likely is that Banksy, whose work, above all else, is full of wry humour, will appreciate the joke and give his blessing to his latest adversary. Call it parody, pastiche or post-post-modern graffiti if you like, but Hanksy's tributes are fundamentally very funny - almost like Banksy reimagined for the internet meme generation.
Take a look at a selection of Hanksy's handiwork below, and check out even more examples over on The L Magazine.
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First Posted: 12/01/12 10:11 GMT Updated: 12/01/12 15:33 GMT