It's noon in London, and self-described "art terrorist" Banksy is preparing for his next installation. "I've created a cave painting," he says. "It's a bit of rock with a stick man chasing a wildebeest and pushing a shopping cart." The next day, Banksy carefully hangs his work - called Early Man Goes to Market and credited to "Banksymus Maximus" - in Gallery 49 of the venerable British Museum, accompanied by a few sentences of explanatory text. He does this without the knowledge or consent of museum officials; they learn about the latest addition to the collection only after Banksy announces it on his Web site...
I've read about that guy before. Pretty funny, if you ask me.
I can only imagine a bunch of people standing around in the museum looking at his art. I'm willing to bet at least half of them glare at the pictures with bewilderment; thinking,
"I don't get it....but it's in a museum, so it must have been done by an extraordinary artist."
Other reactions I could see include:
Tom: "Look at how the perspective is skewed, and the sensitivity to basic geometric forms is approached with such simplicity."
Suzy: "The utter lack of respect to the human body's proportions is deplorable - but well placed."
Tom: "Yes; I've never heard of this Banksymus Maximus, but he is obviously capable of expressing himself in rigorous form."
