The painting

Everybody with an internet connection and an Email address gets “spam”. Often the correspondence is from a named person purporting to be genuine. But when you are a member of a band and you start getting Emails from somebody, signing themselves as Banksy, asking you to change the name of your band, how seriously do you take it?

This was the dilemma faced by Simon Duncan who had been a drummer with the band “Exit Through the Gift Shop” for four years.

In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Londoner, 41 year old Simon said: ”We had these hilarious emails from someone saying he was Banksy but we didn’t know if they were genuine.”
 
It turned out that the Emails were in fact from the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy.
To avoid any confusion with the release of his film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” Banksy made them an offer that if they would change their name he would paint them a backdrop for their performances under their new name.
The band agreed and renamed themselves “Brace Yourself”

”Then a scruffy white van arrived. The driver had no idea what he was carrying. When we saw the painting we could not believe it.

”We had to insure it, so a man from Sotheby’s came over to see it in my loft.”

He added: “He said to me, ‘this is surreal. I have just been valuing an 18th-century portrait in a stately home, but it is not as valuable as this’.”

The painting was valued at £200.000, just over $300,000

Banksy is well known and loved in the UK for his graffiti, artwork and some of his news grabbing exploits. This film was a new venture for him and was well received in Europe and at the Sundance Film Festival. It recently opened to a premiere in Los Angeles with an impressive list of celebrities attending including Shepard Fairey, Joaquin Phoenix, Tony Hawk, Minnie Driver, Alanis Morissette, Tarina Tarantino, Alfonso Campos, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Pete Wentz, Adrien Brody, Juliette Lewis, James Kyson-Lee, Jonny Lee Miller, Daryl Hannah, Greg Lauren, Elizabeth Berkley, Scott Caan, Lady Victoria Hervey, Phillip Rhys, Joe Hahn, Tim Daly, Lily Cole, Enrique Murciano, Danny Masterson.

As for the guys in the band? They are not about to go rushing off to the “Banksy” just yet, or even use it for a backdrop but are considering displaying it in a gallery.

Click to find out more about the film Banksy Film: Exit Through The Gift Shop

Also by C. Jordan
The Death of Graffiti Artist Banksy

Banksy Storms New Orleans: Banksy vs.. The Gray Ghost
Banksy in Bethlehem: Art and The Barrier Between Two Nations
and more at
The Banksy Blog