Is Banksy in Sydney?
Walking through a back lane in Stanmore the other day and saw this very familiar stencil (see pics).
It is none other than a very well known graffiti stencil from (quite possibly) the most famous graffiti artis in the world: Banksy – from Bristol in London.
It’s not the first time Banksy has come to Sydney to complement the public Sydney canvas with his free artistry, but I never expected to see one in a very out-of-the-way back lane in Stanmore… But this is the inner west! And low and behold I saw the first stencil go up and then a few weeks later, some more stencils added… Has Banksy been in Sydney for weeks? Staying with mates in Stanmore?
To add more fuel to my curiosity, I even saw one of his trademark rat stencils in Petersham with one of his slogans, and also a bunch of street posters and billboards in Newtown that had bright yellow smiley face stickers plastered over the top – another banksy trademark…
It could very well be that these are rip-offs (it does happen), but they may be genuine. I prefer to believe the latter.
I’d love to meet the man, but that’d be difficult seeing as no one really seems to know who he is… the problems of being brilliant yet illegal artist… (Banksy, if you’re googling your name and end up here, feel free to leave comment!)
Either way, my advice to young players is to keep your eye out for the little Banksy gems that might be gracing the streets of Sydney and start by familiarising yourself with his works at www.banksy.co.uk
May 5th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Um, Bristol’s not in London, it’s right on the other side of England (South West corner)…
Very cool art though.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Yeah, I meant to say Bristol England…
woops
May 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I like it in movies when they say “London, Eng-a-land”…
May 6th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Banksy is fantastic. I’ve heard he’s been here before, there used to be a monkey on Oxford St (a bit past Taylor Square)…?
July 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Did you see this article??
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,24015566-5013560,00.html
October 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Where was the one is Stanmore? I am a massive fan.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
It’s on the corner of Durham lane and Rosevear St Stanmore on the back of some dude’s garage.
October 25th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Hey..
I was so excited to read your blog and find that there was some Banksy work in Sydney. I checked out the sites in stanmore and enmore yesterday, and it definitley smelt of Banksy, so I too am choosing to believe that they’re originals.
I was recently in melbourne on a mission to find some of Banksy’s work and came across the famous “little diver” but was unable to track down any of his other work, and was told that a lot of it has been cleaned away.
Its such a shame!!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
i was in melbourne just last week and without trying i found a few banksy’s, the easiest was actually on the very popular Brunswick st, on the wall of an entry to a building somewhere in the middle, its a rat and an eagle but absolutely a banksy. Some nob scribbled some things around/over it- but its definately there and very easy to miss.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
can anyone tell me where some more are in sydney, i keep hearing theres some on oxford st but where specifically?
April 1st, 2010 at 10:18 pm
No… that looks like a matti another Bristol Artist, seen his Einstine before!!!!
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 pm
[...] a link to Dickers earlier post on Banksy: http://www.thechroniclesof.net/2008/05/05/is-banksy-in-sydney/ This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 11:40 amand is filed under Chris, [...]