The infamous British graffiti artist, known only as Banksy, last week managed to smuggle several pieces of art into 4 of New York's art museums. Some of the artwork, much of it blatantly anti-war in nature, sat in the Museum of Modern Art between famous pieces for 3-4 days without raising suspicion. This is the third stunt in a series which has seen Banksy's art smuggled into the Tate in London and the Louvre in Paris.

Banksy is well known throughout Britain for his graffiti stunts, but has so far managed to keep his identity a secret. Many of his stencilled works, which originally brought him his urban art fame, can still be seen dotted around cities in the south of England, leading in the last few years to a plague of copy-cat graffiti works.

Banksy's Manifesto has always been to bring art 'back to the people'. Indeed to discover a Banksy in some deserted London street or busy Bristol shopping precinct is to gain a sense that it was put there just for you. Many say that Banksy's art in many ways destroys the ideals it set out to advertise. But although his now worldwide fame is somewhat contradictory to his original intentions it still manages to bring people to question art, to try and uncover the lines in the blurred vision of modern artistry Banksy portrays. For that I can give Banksy no greater praise. Art for art's sake:

"The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit."
- from Banksy's website

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