Banksy Self Portrait Sale

A work of art is coming up for auction this month that many owners of defaced property, a scattering of museum art curators and journalists have pined to get their hands on: a self-portrait by Banksy. The graffiti artist, so bankable that a wall with one of his stencilled works was recently chopped up with an angle grinder and stolen, is said to be from Bristol - where the council recently put a preservation order on a mural of a guilty lover hanging by his fingertips from a bedroom windowsill - and to have been born Robert Banks. Keep Britain Tidy has described his work as "pure vandalism". His stunts include a small rock painting of a caveman pushing a supermarket trolley that spent several days in the British Museum before officials spotted it, and a real elephant painted pink and gold during a Los Angeles show. When £102,000 was paid at Sotheby's in February for his Bombing Middle England he posted a piece on his website captioned: "I can't believe you morons buy this shit." The portrait, to be sold by Bonham's, shows a chimp-faced figure and is predicted to fetch £30,000. (For full source and article click the Headline). Irish Art