Headline, July30, 2013

'''PALESTI​NE : THE ULTIMATE -

GRAFFITI- HOLIDAY DESTINATIO​N'''

Every time,  I said Banksy's name, people smiled, I mean they really smiled, like they were remembering something very very cherished!

Only some years ago, within just a week, Banksy created nine pieces on the Palestinian side of the West Bank, which he called : ''the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers''. He also described his this encounter as he painted: ''Soldier : What the .... are you doing? Banksy: You'll have to wait till it's finished. Soldier (to colleagues) : Safeties off.''

One person told me about a nearby gallery that sells photographs of various Banksy graffiti. And another person told me about a tattoo shop that was up the road that has a lot of Banksy screen prints hung up inside of it. Later, when I went and checked out the shop, they told me that Banksy goes in there every now and then and trades his artwork for free tattoos for his friends.

The next day I slept in and woke up kinda late but on hitting the search, ended up in a bookstore only to exit behind a backpack-wearing kid with baggy pants, a Krylon-paint T-shirt and head phones. I approached him and asked him if he knew Banksy, and with a smile, he said, ''Everybody knows Banksy, but nobody knows Banksy.'' That was pretty Zen, so I asked him what he thought of him.  

''He's a damn legend! Well well respected.For various reasons  -his stenciling, his art  -you can tell right away when you see a Banksy. I have a friend who works over by King's Cross, and one day Banksy got hundreds of these ten-pound notes, which he played around with on Photoshop and pasted up on this wall. It was great! They took it down but I took one of the notes and it says, 'Banksy of England'  and the small print 'I promise to pay the bearer the ultimate price'. 

I asked him where I could find Banksy, and he just laughed. ''There's no way you'll find him,'' he said. ''Nobody can.''

With an ear to the ground, I managed to get to the right bar and ask the bartender girl if she had ever heard of a guy called Banksy. She looked at me like I was a retard and said, ''Who hasn't? The bartender then pointed to a girl who was having a grand time on the dancing floor, and said, ''She knows Banksy.'' And she went over to her, and I watched her talk to her and point at me, and the girl instantly sobered up or tried to and with a serious look in her eyes walked over to me, stared straight in to my eyes,and, even though she appeared to be really intoxicated, with total seriousness and believability in her eyes said, ''I know Banksy. i know him personally.''

Really? Okay. And as she was telling me that I was in the neighborhood where he grew up, but he no longer lives here.

''How do I now that you're telling me the truth and that you really know Banksy?'' She told me that he had done a stencil of her. I asked her which one, and she stared me dead in the eyes.

''I 'm the girl with the balloon,'' she said.

I left the bar and in a dark alley I came across a Banksy stencil of a police officer doing a huge line of coke.

It made me smile.      

Located within walking distance of the British Museum are a lot of galleries, and one of them I came across sold a lot of Banksy's originals. All of Banksy's canvasses and screen prints were hand numbered and signed and they weren't exactly cheap. Up on the wall was a canvas painting called Monkey Queen. I asked what kind of people shell out this kind of loot for a Banksy, and I was told ''A-Listers'' mostly, but also those people and there are lots of them who want a piece of it.

I then told them that I was looking for Banksy, The guy laughed and said that finding Banksy would be impossible, that not even they know where he is, and I had no chance at all of finding him. I asked if it was okay to ask him a few questions, and he said it was.

''Is Banksy the next...............................''

I didn't even have to finish the question. ''Andy Warhol. Banksy is the next Andy Warhol.''

With respectful dedication to all the Students and Professors of Palestine See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless : Where power is everything but with control.

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless