Banksy's latest 'gallery infiltration' stunt was revealed today when the British Musuem was forced to admit that one for the items in their 'Roman Britain' collection was a hoax.
A 10in by 6in 'rock painting, entitled Early Man Goes to Market and depicting a man pushing a supermarket trolley was found yesterday after Banksy posted a message on his website claiming that the item "had remained in the collection for quite some time”.
The artist also offered a prize of an original Banksy painting to the first person to photograph him or herself next to the rock.
A spokesman for the museum is quoted as saying "We’re reasonably confident that it hadn’t been up for that long, maybe a couple of days. But we’re seeing the lighter side of it. It looked very much in keeping with the other exhibits, the explanatory text was quite similar."
Hang on, you mean the explanatory text which said:
This finely preserved example of primitive art dates from the Post-Catatonic era and is thought to depict early man venturing towards the out-of-town hunting grounds. The artist responsible is known to have created a substantial body of work across South East of England under the moniker Banksymus Maximus but little else is known about him. Most art of this type has unfortunately not survived. The majority is destroyed by zealous municipal officials who fail to recognise the artistic merit and historical value of daubing on walls.
Banksy's work is one of those things that seem to divide the Londonist team - it seems you either love him or you hate him. We'd be interested to know how the Londonist readership feel: is it 'subversive guerilla art' or just 'Hoxton wank?'
Let us know via the comments section.
