| By :
Martin Hofschroer
Art lovers can create a little corner of London in their homes by buying Banksy prints. The elusive guerrilla artist started to paint graffiti on the streets and walls of the capital after moving from his native Bristol where he honed his skills as a member of the city's DryBreadZ Crew. Distinctive graffiti art starting appearing around the city soon after Banksy's relocation to London, which saw the Bristolian satirizing western culture with dark, subversive humour. Famous stencils in London include a graffiti painting in Archway of Charles Manson in a prison suit attempting to hitchhike, while in trendy Shoreditch you can find a British soldier painting an anarchist sign on a wall. "T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress," said Banksy in his book Wall and Piece. Banksy's art may be popular with the public but local councils and organisations are not always so keen on having artistic works of political and social commentary on their streets and walls. Westminster council ordered a large mural featuring the words 'One nation under CCTV' being painted by a child in a red-hooded while a police officer holding a camera watched to be covered up on the side of a Royal Mail building. Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster council, told the BBC that he would not allow the graffiti because it may encourage other people to start painting in the capital illegally. He told the news provider: "I take the view that this is graffiti and if you condone this then what is the difference between this and all the other graffiti you see scrawled across the city? If you condone this then you condone graffiti all over London." Banksy believes that graffiti on buildings is an effective way of bringing art to a public who would otherwise be disenfranchised in terms of access to exclusive exhibitions and galleries. He wrote in Wall and Piece: "Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas every day, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. "We the people, affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art." Buying Banksy prints can make the owner feel like they own a piece of the streets and the best bit is that there is little chance of the council removing it from your walls.
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