LONDON (AFP) — Hip British graffiti artist Bansky, whose true identity has long remained a mystery, was thrust into the spotlight Wednesday after the publication of a snatched picture allegedly of him at work.
A man believed to be Banksy, whose works sell for tens of thousands of pounds around the world, was caught on camera working on a new picture in an east London street, according to The Times.
His latest work depicts a huge sunflower, formed by diverting the double yellow parking lines from a street gutter across a pavement up onto the side of a house, flanked by a picture of a paint-roller wielding artist.
But the artist himself was believed to have been caught at work for the first time, by a passerby who took a picture on his mobile phone camera, the daily said.
"We never confirm or deny whether any image shows Banksy," a spokesman for the artist told The Times, which printed the photo of a black-haired man in jeans a camouflage jacket, with a pollution-protecting mask on his head.
The new mural, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, is believed to be riposte to the local council which has pledged to clean his works from the streets.
"Whilst some graffiti is considered to be art, we know that many of our residents think graffiti in areas where they live, such as local housing estates, is an eyesore," said a council spokesman.
Although Banksy's canvases are snapped up by celebrities such as Angelina Jolie for thousands of pounds (euros, dollars), his stencilled graffiti creations can be found on walls and billboards around the British capital.
Earlier this year workmen painted over a Banksy picture of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson's characters from the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" holding bananas instead of guns, reportedly worth 300,000 pounds (411,000 euros, 600,000 dollars).
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