Banksy Ascends to Superhero (or Villain) Status in City
By Drew Grant
The mayor has condemned him. The police are after him. Possible copycats are posing as him. And vandals who dare deface his work are being humiliated by vigilante mobs.
Which all points to one conclusion: Banksyis Batman.
As we reported earlier this week, street artist Banksy began his one-month “residency,” Better Out Than In in New York with a bang, with two tributes to the World Trade Center and 9/11 raising the ire of Mayor Bloomberg, who said “graffiti does ruin people’s property and it’s a sign of decay and loss of control.”
Though he said he’d leave it up to Department of Cultural Affairs to deal with Banksy, it wasn’t two days before the NYPD’s Vandal Squad were sent out to capture the British artist, according to The New York Post. And now that Banksy’s base of operations has been discovered out in Red Hook, that could lead to a subpoena and investigations of the facility, Gothamist’s John Del Signore speculated.
But wait! There’s more! A tipster sent us over photos today with this note: