Photo by xxjetlab via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr A week ago Sunday, the London paper, Mail on Sunday, revealed "compelling evidence suggesting" the identity of the famous and anonymous street artist, Banksy, as Robin Gunningham. To date Gunningham nor Banksy's agent or spokesperson, have not confirmed this. And a note from Banksy's on his website says "anyone described as 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me." Banksy frequented Los Angeles and......

Stuck in traffic down Laurel Canyon Blvd. this weekend on the metropolitan side of the hill, we took note of this stencil, below. We can't identify the artist, can you? It looks like Bansky, but sources say no. Blek le Rat was in town, but that's not his. Herakut just opened their show this weekend, but Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art owner Seth Carmichael says it was not them and that he noticed this piece......

Before Banksy and Shepard Fairey there was Blek le Rat. The French street artist is quite possibly the first person to use stencils for graffiti, a style he pioneered to veer away from the NY city tags he had witnessed. His first stencils of life sized rats invaded the streets of Paris in the early 80's. From there he moved to stencils of popular icons of culture and some self portraits. To say he is......

Stunts come in all shapes and sizes, but the one planned for next week at the Santa Ana Zoo is absolutely elephantine--at least for one pachyderm named Tai. According to cbs2.com: "Artist Fan Yang plans to briefly envelop the elephant in a giant soapy bubble at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana on Tuesday as part of the center's annual Bubblefest." Admittedly a strange stunt--and one that will "set a world record for the......

The title of this article was going to be Moona Lisa. Then I realized I'm not actually 8, but 28. There I am, jumping next to the latest mural by Nick Walker. (Why am I jumping? Check out the Whiskerino Project, but beware: you might be blown away by sexiness. Unless you don't like beards.) This Banksy-esque lady can be found on La Brea, past Edgewood (see map below). Walker is one of four......

LAist contributer Osmany Rodriguez found a few fresh new Banksy paintings near the New Beverly Cinema. As you may already know, Banksy is the elusive guerrilla street artist responsible for some of the most interesting art in the city (not to mention the entire world). He's a trickster figure who never shows his face, but joined Steve Jones in the Indie 103.1 studios earlier this week (that's how we know he's been in L.A.......

Melrose Alley Street Art...

STARTERS & DIPS Was the MTV President NEXT-ed? Mutiny at Music Television. [via Gawker] 50 Cent condoms will cover your wankster. [via Stereogum] Slash loses his hat. Big whoop. [via Idolator] EARLY BIRD SPECIAL The Shins' new album, "Wincing the Night Away" + iTunes glitch = download early. [via Retro Music Snob] ENTREES Money talks. And now it spies on you too. [via BoingBoing] eBay buys scalper website. This article comes w/ a side......

Millionaire beautiful people Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie did a lot more than just browse while attending the latest Banksy show in downtown LA; they scooped up three pieces, including the $226,000 painting "Picnic", which depicts a family of white people eating while several Africans look on hungrily. Some say the husband in the party looks similar to Pitt. But the spending spree didn't end there. According to Star Magazine, and reported by the......

This British phone booth -- or part of it -- was spotted this morning near the intersection of Alameda and Main streets Downtown, across from Philippe the Original. It seems that everyone's favorite British graffiti artist struck again. But Banksy's no fool. LAist heard he hired a private crew come and pick up the installation before it could be taken away by "proper authorities"... Photos courtesy of Alecia Rossi.......

Earlier today art.blogging.la reported that LA artist Jeff Gillette pulled a Banksy on Banksy by installing a piece of art in the British artist's show near the 10 freeway. It was a tip of the hat to Banksy who placed a parody piece in Gallery 49 of the British Museum two years ago that looked like anciet art until you looked closer and saw that it was a caveman pushing a shopping cart. The......

Brangelina went yesterday but they didn't take any pictures. Fortunately LAist reader Patrick LA did take pics and he put them on Flickr and then emailed us to tell us about it. After the jump enjoy a taste of what's happening downtown near the 10.......

According to Banksy's official site, his secret art opening will be on Hunter Street today, tomorrow, and Sunday from noon-8pm. "Hunter Street is off Santa Fe, two blocks from the freeway", which appears to be here. We hope the elephant is still there!......

Graffiti artist Banksy, who most recently was in the news for getting a disturbing sculpture into Disneyland, as well as his work that trashed Paris Hilton's new cd, is in town causing trouble guaranteed to make pretty much everyone who passes it smile. This week the LA Weekly spotlights the controversial artist in a Q & A about his new collection of thought-provoking art that literally hits the streets of LA. Here's an excerpt:......

Street artist and prankster Banksy, who snuck 500 altered Paris Hilton cds into UK record stores last week, says that the LA heiress is probably too blonde to understand his dry wit, according to PR Inside. The reclusive stencilist, who is threatening to cause a stir here in Los Angeles later this month, let his publicist do the talking regarding the doctored discs. "He's saying you can be a celebrity, but you don't have......

No one knows where he will strike but prolific stencil graffiti artist Banksy (aka Robert Banks) from Bristol, England, will make a much anticipated ”Barely Legal” L.A. appearance (or at least his work will) on September 15-17 at a super secret location that won’t be disclosed until the day of the event. - Caroline on Crack we have a date for the first opening of H&M in SoCal: September 21st in pasadena located at......