Toxic Rats Not Banksy

The questionable Banksy we posted yesterday is a very well done stencil that uses a Banksy image, but it is not done by Banksy.

M&F contributing photographer B. Land tracked down the little rat. It was at a design firm in Santa Monica, and the head of the firm told B. Land that he did the rat himself.

And, it seems that this is not the only one. We received this picture (posted above) from J of a similar looking rat with almost identical green sludge coming out of the barrel.


***Big thanks to J for sending in the info and this picture.***

Toxic Rats Not Banksy

The questionable Banksy we posted yesterday is a very well done stencil that uses a Banksy image, but it is not done by Banksy.

M&F contributing photographer B. Land tracked down the little rat. It was at a design firm in Santa Monica, and the head of the firm told B. Land that he did the rat himself.

And, it seems that this is not the only one. We received this picture (posted above) from J of a similar looking rat with almost identical green sludge coming out of the barrel.


***Big thanks to J for sending in the info and this picture.***

New Banksy in Los Angeles!?

Just two days after a new Banksy piece was spotted in London, a similar rat shows up in Los Angeles. Another Banksy in LA!?

This new stencil features a rat pouring out a barrel of green sludge.

This new piece is located in Los Angeles and the thing that makes us think that this might be Banksy is the attention to detail. Like with the new piece in London, this one is very well done, with the green spilling perfectly from the bucket to the ground and soft lines in the stencil.

On the other hand, the stencil is placed on some sort of wood backing, which almost seems too easy for Banksy, and too likely to be stolen. His pieces have impeccable placement, and the peeling cement wall in London seems like a much more likely spot. But the LA rat was placed outside of a production studio, so maybe that has something to do with the location.

Neither piece has yet been confirmed on Banksy's website, so either we have the first jump, or someone is doing some really good Banksy rat imitations.

Banksy usually hits the streets in spurts, and although it seems unusual that two separate pieces show up half way around the world, Banksy might be keeping us all guessing about what coming next!

***Pic found on StephanLeeCarr's Yfrog account. Good eye, Stephan!***

New Banksy in Los Angeles!?

Just two days after a new Banksy piece was spotted in London, a similar rat shows up in Los Angeles. Another Banksy in LA!?

This new stencil features a rat pouring out a barrel of green sludge.

This new piece is located in Los Angeles and the thing that makes us think that this might be Banksy is the attention to detail. Like with the new piece in London, this one is very well done, with the green spilling perfectly from the bucket to the ground and soft lines in the stencil.

On the other hand, the stencil is placed on some sort of wood backing, which almost seems too easy for Banksy, and too likely to be stolen. His pieces have impeccable placement, and the peeling cement wall in London seems like a much more likely spot. But the LA rat was placed outside of a production studio, so maybe that has something to do with the location.

Neither piece has yet been confirmed on Banksy's website, so either we have the first jump, or someone is doing some really good Banksy rat imitations.

Banksy usually hits the streets in spurts, and although it seems unusual that two separate pieces show up half way around the world, Banksy might be keeping us all guessing about what coming next!

***Pic found on StephanLeeCarr's Yfrog account. Good eye, Stephan!***

Rats in the City

Awesome street art rat up top. Click the jump for more

Great placement in Silverlake. Look at the guy standing at the bottom for size reference.

The rat is also wearing a collar. Think this piece is from Septerhed.

Confirmed: Fakesy NOT Banksy

Its been confirmed that this giant rat stenciled onto a taco shop in Oceanside is not a Banksy. KPBS is reporting that Banksy's PR firm is stating that this is not a Banksy piece.

Its not really a surprise to us, we called it from the beginning. But what we did find remarkable is the way that major news outlets latched onto the idea and everyone from Hypebeast to the major news outlets were reporting it as a Banksy.

As we said before, this piece seemed like a caricature of a mish-mash of Banksy's most well known pieces, but it didn't have the feel of a Banksy piece. But the gusto with which this was swept up in the news indicates that perhaps that's what the general public wants. Icons, not art.

But even though this is not Banksy, someone is cashing in. The restaurant where the stencil was placed says business has been better than ever, and the t-shirt pictured are being sold for $20 a pop. It seems like street art is good business, and good for business.

Thanks to Ryan Cooper for the shots of the piece, and CarlsBadCrawl for the breakdown.

Roost Above The Rest

Septerhed, Destroy All Design and Koffinz got together to throw down on a massive mural in Glendale entitled 'Roost Above The Rest'
We don't see a central theme-it looks like its from the streets and got bombed, and clearly that's what they were going for.

And amongst all these pieces are some new, and in our opinion, new favorite pieces that we've seen from each artist including a dope graffiti painted Koffinz character, a new raven logo from Destoyer, and a rat on a leash from Septerhed.

We haven't been out to Glendale to see this mural in person yet. Big thanks to Sept for sending over the pics~

Melrose and Fairfax - The BEST Spot in LA

So Netflix recently released Banksy's 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' and we rewatched it after enjoying it during its release weekend.

And when Banksy came to LA Mr. Brainwash took him around to hit the best spots in LA. And while they played this clip, it was of Banksy's famous rat stencil on Melrose~

Take it from Banksy, MelroseandFairfax is the BEST spot to get up in LA~

Grimeg

Dope Grimeg skull right in the middle.

Also stickers and tags from Rat, Shagawat, Blackhearts, ScottEderGallery, and ?BoogieQueen