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Guess What? Not All Street Art is Banksy
Photo courtesy LAist reader via Tips email
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This may come as a surprise to many of you, but not all street art is "a Banksy." Even if it has a whimsical saying attached to it about optimism in the modern age, or a child done in black and white shaded drawing depicted doing something sweet. Even if you think it's one, or really wish it's one on the wall of that place down that street.There's one piece that's been popping up around Los Angeles for the past six or so months that people really like to think is "a Banksy." It's a little girl holding a bucket writing with the words "You're Never Too Young to Dream BIG" in hot pink seemingly coming from her chalk.
In December 2011, the street art blog Melrose and Fairfax spotted one on, appropriately, Melrose, and attributed it to Mr. Brainwash (aka MBW). Not surprisingly, MBW was about to open his big ol' art show. And he's been known to have an affiliation with the elusive British street artist himself.
So much of one, in fact, that there's been some speculation (largely debunked/hotly debated/mostly joking) that Banksy was Mr. Brainwash or vice versa, largely stemming from the hype and mystery that was the Oscar-nominated "Exit Through the Giftshop" film.
From Melrose and Fairfax:
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This is the first real street piece from MBW in a long time. It is located on Melrose and features a little girl with a bucket of chalk writing on the wall 'Your Never Too Young to Dream BIG'. The girl has a stencil effect but it appears to be a wheatpaste put on the wall, not an actual stencil on the wall.
Oh, by the way: Not a Banksy.
The same piece was spotted in Westwood earlier this month, a couple of months earlier near Runyon Canyon, and just this week in Larchmont.
The latter (which also came into our email tip box this week, was researched, and deemed not a Banksy) really had Larchmont Buzz a-buzz. They giddily write:
Apparently, the blighted building at 227 North Larchmont was too tempting a canvas for the international graffiti artist Bansky. It seems that the mysterious artist from England was busy at the site sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning creating his signature street art and challenging all the little toddlers to dream big.
"And if you know anything about Banksy, it’s kind of cool that he was here…and gone," they conclude. Actually, if you know anything about Banksy, it's that this isn't his work. But hey! It's fun to imagine the hoodied Brit stealthily getting his art and message up after creeping past Larchmont's cute little indie shops increasingly corporate chain stores.
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