
THE public is making its mark on graffiti artist Banksy’s first British exhibition in three years as a whole street has been transformed into an art exhibition.
The Cans Festival, a three-day street party of stencil art, kicks off yesterday in an old tunnel formerly used by taxis, which was vacated when Eurostar left its Waterloo terminal in London.
Artists from as far afield as Brazil, Canada and Australia are also taking part.
Huge installations include smashed up cars, a CCTV camera-laden tree, an ice cream van, a cut-out of the Queen, and statues as well as artwork on the walls.
Boris Johnson also features in murals by a Dutch artist named Hugo Kaagman.
In one piece – We Need Change – the politician’s face appears by a picture of a Smurf.
From today the public can add to the exhibition with their own stencilling.
Banksy said: “Graffiti doesn’t always spoil buildings, in fact it’s the only way to improve a lot of them.
“In the space of a few hours with a couple of hundred cans of paint I’m hoping we can transform a dark forgotten filth pit into an oasis of beautiful art.”
The free event is open to the public from 10am until 10pm on Monday.
After that, the installations will be removed from the road, but the artwork will remain on the walls.
The exhibition takes place in Leake Street, near Waterloo Station.

Members of the public are being invited to take part in Banksy’s latest project, as an army of graffiti artists turn a whole London street into an art exhibition

The Cans Festival starts on Saturday in an old tunnel formerly used by taxis

It was vacated when Eurostar left its Waterloo terminal in London

Banksy had noticed an abandoned access road. Eurostar, which no longer owns the tunnel, helped to put his brainwave into action

Artists from as far afield as Brazil, Canada and Australia are also taking part

Huge installations include smashed up cars, a CCTV camera-laden tree, an ice cream van, a cut out of the Queen and statues, as well as artwork on the walls

Banksy said: “Graffiti doesn’t always spoil buildings, in fact it’s the only way to improve a lot of them. In the space of a few hours with a couple of hundred cans of paint I’m hoping we can transform a dark forgotten filth pit into an oasis of beautiful art”

The public will be able to play their part by adding to the exhibition with their own stencilling

The free event is open to the public from 10am on Saturday until 10pm on Monday

The public are being encouraged to bring their own stencils and wear clothing they don’t mind being damaged

Banksy’s pieces include a classical-style statues with a twist – one named David In Flak Jacket and another called Homeless Venus. Another statue is named Brew Period and is painted in camouflage colours and holding a can of Special Brew

The Cans Festival takes place in Leake Street, near Waterloo Station. For more information see www.thecansfestival.com
Banksy is a world’s most famous Graffitist Stenciler graffiti artist who did the Blur’s “Think Tank” CD cover . Until now nobody knew what he looked like. R those photo caught him at work??
See Also: The Cans Festival – Banksy street exhibition (photos)
Banksy’s photos — Has he really been caught at work???
Banksy’s Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill Opens in New York City
More Cans Festival Pics Click Here:
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Thanks Rebbill provide this video’s link to us.
22 Pings to “The Cans Festival – Banksy street exhibition”
25 Responses to “The Cans Festival – Banksy street exhibition”
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1. Nadia Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 12:02 pmWow, a simple brilliant idea which is definately gonna work.
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2. Billy Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 9:51 amam gutted i missed this !!
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3. Sally Tollin Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pmWhat a wonderful idea. Keeps graffitti off the walls in public places and helps
those who are compulsive public abusive cretins not to spoil peoples walls and
public places. I am coming to England in May and if I have the opportunity to
visit this gallery I will be most honoured to do so.Keep up the ingenuity.
Best wishes
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4. Mónica Coelho Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pmEnviar novedades de graffitis
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5. Copey Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 7:49 pmI went to the festival it was brilliant! in fact it was so good we went back again on the monday to see what’d been added or changed or just to see some of our favs again! even if you missed it go and have a look, hopefully it’ll remain for a while! x
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6. Realistic Pencil Drawings Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 6:00 amI would have loved to see this!! Very cool!
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7. office drone Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pmthis alley is actually right behind my office, me and my work mates lovingly refered to it as piss alley so i’m glad to see it’s been renovated.
still haven’t had a chance to go in though.
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8. kid_icarus Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 11:56 pmall very cool and very original, except the blatant ikko tanaka rip-off (green circles with orange bomb). seriously, they couldn’t come up with their own idea? ikko-san’s posters were better executed too….
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9. D.R. Phil Says:
May 10th, 2008 at 9:50 pmI hope somebody shoots this pretentious shitbag. Anybody could come up with this garbage. Am I jealous? no, it’s just not that clever. In fact let me ask this question to all of you: What exactly is this guys message? What, governments are corrupt? poor people have it rough? Only complete fucking idiots would consider saying something so goddamned obvious to be in any way controversial. That’s probably why no one outside the internet and Angelina Jolie take it seriously.
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10. nicole Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pmDetroit could use something like this-for real! Nice.
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11. Rebbill Says:
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pmThere’s a great video of this on Current: http://current.com/items/88936283_cans_festival_featuring_banksy_london_stencil_graffiti_exhibition
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12. admin Says:
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 amThanx, I add this video here now
) -
13. issy ww Says:
May 29th, 2008 at 1:29 pmhave i missed this exhibition ??
if so does banksy have any others?? -
14. Timmy Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 4:25 amNice site… Cool guestbook…a
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15. Ron Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 8:56 amVery cool design! Useful information. Go on!
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16. Andrew Says:
September 30th, 2008 at 8:10 amLOL
that doesn’t even make any sense! -
17. Ron Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pmExcellent site – do keep up the good work.
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18. judy Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 9:51 amVery good web site, great work and thank you for your service.t
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19. Ron Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pmYou have an outstanding good and well structured site. I enjoyed browsing through it.
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20. Sexy Female Celebs Wallpapers Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 7:39 pmgoood ,Thank you for the summary we are going some Wallpapers for some one its really good…
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21. Alex Badaró Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:38 pmCara…. vem pro Brasil !!!! Junta um galetarão e vem … o contágio por aqui é inevitável
parabéns pela cobertura e
vai tomar no cú Banksy
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22. nigel conway Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:39 pmmmm more more more Im going back to the studio.
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23. DJFURiOUS189TnR..KS Says:
May 28th, 2009 at 6:36 pmF..KU lets battle
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24. Meiko_Kaji Says:
August 31st, 2009 at 11:37 pmbanksy is so tacky.
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25. Andrew Peltzer Says:
December 12th, 2009 at 8:05 pmI





















































May 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
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[...] wenn die szene dich offiziell trifft und sich die eier schaukelt. wie vor ein paar wochen beim cans-festival und letztens in der tate modern (links klicken für mehr [...]
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March 17th, 2009 at 7:51 am
[...] also scour the Interweb for articles about the initial exhibition (scroll down on that page to see some amazing photos of the original artwork and installations) [...]
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[...] avait lance en 2008 une exposition de rue (un article tres complet ici), profitant d’un tunnel desaffecte a deux pas de Waterloo, Leake Street Tunnel. Enorme [...]
October 25th, 2009 at 1:51 am
[...] you who haven’t it was a huge festival of street art held over three days in May last year. Here is an article about it with some great [...]