Fake Banksy Pandemic Threatens Economy, Dupes Celebrity

M@
By M@ Last edited 177 months ago
Fake Banksy Pandemic Threatens Economy, Dupes Celebrity

banksyratwall.jpg
Herschell Hershey in Londonist Flickr Pool.

(Well, that set of keywords ought to keep Google happy.) The old myth that 'you're never more than 10 feet away from a rat' might be updated to reference the 'Banksy rat' in light of a recent spate of imitators. There's 'not Banksy', of course, who does a good job of openly not being Banksy. Then there's this nefarious trio from Croydon and Sussex, on trial for fraud after allegedly creating Banksy imitations and selling them on as genuine works. And in an example of sub-Beadle confidence trickery, an actor posing as Banksy was filmed dining with Joan Collins at her Oxfordshire Estate for a new 'cod reality show' to be screened at the ICA. (This after Christopher Biggins pulled out. You couldn't make this shit up.) None of this duplicity will do the artist any harm. His new show recently opened in Bristol. According to one local journo, he's finally put that hitherto obscure town 'on the map'.

Last Updated 19 June 2009