Banksy nominated for an Oscar
After the Grammys, the second red carpet event of February is coming up! On Sunday, the 83rd Academy Awards kicks off. Better known as the Oscars!
As a taster, the second annual Oscar Docs! event is being held in Beverly Hills tomorrow and Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is up for the documentary feature prize!
The evening's event will include clips from each of the nominated documentaries in the feature and short documentary categories and a panel discussion with each group of nominees. Banksy's camp might be in attendance. Check out all the categories at the end of this post. You might be able to get tix here.
What the Academy had to say about Banksy accepting an Oscar:
"...it would not be dignified for the Academy to have somebody come up wearing a monkey’s head.” Tom Sherak, President of the Board, The Academy
Cheeky! But, whatever the outcome will be, it hasn't stopped Banksy causing more mischief and buzz! Passions ran high last week when a Banksy painting suddenly appeared on a billboard in Hollywood. When the sign company removed the poster the owner of the billboard put up a fight...and lost!
Did you know This painting goes against Banksy's M.O. as he rarely paints walls or structures that can be removed so easily. I guess this advertisement image was too tempting for Banksy and he had to get up on it! It's good that Banksy is "going local" and following in the footsteps of so many other L.A. writers and getting up high.
Other artworks also appeared around Los Angeles last week, as reported by the celebrity gossip website and TV show, TMZ. These are a lot harder to just take away, but they are at high risk of being whitewashed by graffiti-hating landlords.
Public reaction Update: I heard one of the paintings has already gone missing and the "craola bullets" has been vandalized. Banksy always gets a reaction, but with pieces being swarmed by UCLA students and gaining Facebook pages (as shown in the news video below) it's unsurprising that the feedin frenzy got out of control.
Downer Personally, I've hit my personal low-point with Banksy mania after seeing the news footage!
The question is who's responsible? The stealing of public art?...probably some rogue entrepreneur. The vandalism?...a jealous graff artist or anti-graff hero? But don't put it past Banksy himself being behind such stunts. The international man of mystery!
Banksy, Beverly Hills, CA |
Banksy, Westwood, CA |
Banksy, West Hollywood, CA |
THE 2010 NOMINEES ARE:
Documentary (Feature)
- "Exit through the Gift Shop" - Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
- "Gasland" - Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
- "Inside Job" - Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
- "Restrepo" - Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
- "Waste Land" - Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Documentary (Short Subject)
- "Killing in the Name" - Jed Rothstein
- "Poster Girl" - Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
- "Strangers No More" - Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
- "Sun Come Up" - Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
- "The Warriors of Qiugang" - Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
Labels: Banksy, Graffiti, Hip Hop, Hollywood, Los Angeles, stencil, The Oscars