BANKSY EXHIBITIONS AND PRANKS // ART IN THE STREETS, 2011

  • Poster for Art in The Streets, the first major US museum survey of graffiti and street art.
    Poster for Art in the Streets, MOCA Los Angeles, 2011. Photo © Farzad Owrang. Design © MOCA. Reproduced for educational purposes only.
    Art in the Streets was the first major U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art, curated by MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch with Associate Curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose. The exhibition traced the evolution of the movement from its beginnings in 1970s New York to its global presence in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and São Paulo. Featuring more than 50 leading artists, it celebrated street culture through large-scale installations, paintings, sculptures, and archival material, with a special emphasis on Los Angeles’s unique contribution through cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboarding.
     
    Banksy was one of the most high-profile participants, presenting a dedicated gallery that showcased both familiar stencils and adaptations of outdoor works such as Crayon Child and Chalk-Lined Living Room. He also contributed sketches and animatronic sculptures that added to the immersive quality of the show. Alongside monumental pieces by artists like Os Gemeos, ROA, and Swoon, Banksy’s work played a central role in cementing the exhibition as a landmark moment in the institutional recognition of street art.
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  • “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

    – Banksy 

    Banksy’s contribution was among the most talked about. He installed an entire gallery of works, blending his trademark stencils with sculptural interventions and satirical displays that blurred the line between installation and theatre. Pieces such as Crayon Child and Chalk-Lined Living Room were reimagined for the museum setting, while smaller sketches and animatronic works expanded on his critique of consumerism and authority.
    His presence not only elevated the exhibition’s profile but also underscored the paradox of street art’s shift from the margins to the mainstream. For many visitors, Banksy embodied the tension at the heart of Art in the Streets—art once criminalised and erased now protected, institutionalised, and celebrated by a major museum.
    • Banksy Girl With Baloon

      SIGNED EDITIONS

    • Banksy Show Me The Monet 2005

      ORIGINAL WORKS

    • Banksy's mural of a rhinoceros on a car

      STREET WORKS