Obey Revisits Banksy

Banksy Beats The Buff

Despite being buffed, Banksy's Crayon Soldier fights back!

Banksy's Crayon Soldier at MOCA

Banksy revisits his Crayon Soldier that first showed up in Los Angeles before the Oscars. But this time, it is a 3d version of the crayon gun hanging above the Camden-esque mantle place.

At Least One Banksy Piece From LA is Going To A Collector

The craze to get a Banksy piece has reached absolute madness. Nearly every new piece of Banksy's was either cut out (caution) or taken down, and we expect most to end up on ebay.

However, we just received exclusive pics from a 'collector' who got a Banksy piece, and assures us that it will not be going up for sale any time soon. Click the jump to see where one Banksy has found a home.

Banksy's Crayon Soldier Buffed and Gone!

Today is the day that Banksy died in LA

Jealous People, Sick People

Despite the defacing of Banksy's street art that we have seen in LA, we still love the city. And for every asshole, there are a hundred heroes. Click the jump for more

MELROSEandFAIRFAX on the BBC - Watch It!

Lots of people have wondered about the face behind MELROSEandFAIRFAX. Well, during this interview with the BBC we got to step from behind the camera out in front of it. If you're interested to hear what we think of Banksy, and see the face behind the curtain, click the jump for more

The Wild Things Come Out

All the wild things come out for Banksy. This cool new street art from an unknown artist is just a few feet away from Banksy's Crayon Soldier.

The details are really wild on this creature like the hoof and the talon for feet and the face on the rump.

Dig it~

Another Banksy Piece Goes Missing (And More Drama!)

The 'No Parking' sign from Banksy's Crayon Soldier has gone missing.

And the drama rolls on at the piece with more derogatory etchings and then another face lift. Click the jump for more

MELROSEandFAIRFAX on the BBC

MELROSEandFAIRFAX had the pleasure of being interviewed by the BBC earlier this morning. This pic is the BBC crew talking about how to fit our mohawk in the picture. LOL. Click the jump for more

Banksy Is Under Attack

Banksy's Crayon Soldier was defaced again. Click the jump for more

Family Day at Banksy's Crayon Soldier -Unfortunately Defaced Again

Banksy is still a hot spot in LA, and right after we rolled in a bunch of people showed up to take pictures.

We got some cool shots of kids interacting with the Crayon Soldier.

Unfortunately, Banksy's piece got defaced again. It is so shameful we don't even want to give it the credit of a front article feature. But click the jump to see the wrong done to the Crayon Soldier, and also shots of kids playing around in front of the artwork.

Free Street Art Scavenger Hunt- Bankrupt Slut with Banksy

These scavenger hunts have been a lot of fun, and today Bankrupt Slut dropped off 2 pieces of free street art, one at each of the remaining two Banksy pieces in LA.

These are well hidden. It was purposefully done by Bankrupt Slut so that only the followers of MELROSEandFAIRFAX would find them.

One of these is a rare 'pink' chase figures and it comes with a special prize pack. Click the jump for more info and location details

Banksy's Crayon Soldier Cleaned

Banksy's Crayon Soldier got cleaned up-kind of.

It is still shocking that the piece was defaced in such a manner. The vandalism seems like a prank got wrong. Someone wanted to make a stupid joke on Mr. Brainwash, and had to ruin a Banksy to do so.

Click the jump below to see pics of the 'restored' Crayon Soldier

Gregory Siff - In You. Raw.

We love finding Gregory Siff's hand drawn pieces of sticker art in LA.

Gregory's art has really been embraced in Los Angeles, and fine art can be found in the collections of many celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan, Robert Downey Jr., Tricky, and more. We also noticed that one of Gregory's 'Pop Heart' stickers is now hanging out with Banksy's Crayon Soldier. Click the jump for more

BEST of BANKSY on MELROSEandFAIRFAX

MELROSEandFAIRFAX has been at the forefront of all the Banksy action in LA. In fact, we think we were the first internet source to post all four pieces and have had the exclusive jump on the action that has happened since.

It all started with a tip we received on the blog we hunted down Banksy's Crayon Soldier. We didn't know anything about Lauren Conrad's tweet at the time, like most internet sources, and even though she technically had the inside scoop, we were the first to launch the initial pics of Banksy's Crayon Soldier.

Before the thrill of the first Banksy had even worn off, we were tipped off on another Banksy- the Charlie Brown on Sunset, and we rushed over to take the first pics, and put QtipTheCat in the pics for good measure.

On the way home from Charlie, we snapped pics of what we thought at the time was just another impressive graffiti billboard takeover and posted them that same night. We were the first ones in the world to post these images, but had no idea that 'Livin the Dream' was Banksy at the time. The next day Banksy posted the images on his website and word got out that the billboard was a Banksy.

We had hardly got done posting that the billboard was indeed a Banksy when a viewer submitted pics of the pissing Bulldog. We blasted the pics out there not sure at the time whether it was a Banksy or not. It was, and we locked down the position of being the first internet source to cover each of Banksy's four new pieces in Los Angeles.

It has been a wild ride that did not stop with the discovery but led on to Charlie being boarded up, and then uncovered and drilled, and finally removed and put on ebay.

As if that weren't drama enough, Livin the Dream got taken down and respectable folks almost came to fists fighting over it.

And aside from all the pieces themselves, there have been all kinds of great community stories including rumors about other pieces by Banksy, Banksy getting spot-jacked, stories of dedication from the legions of Banksy fans, street art dedicated to Banksy's street art, not to mention good dialogue on the topic of street art.

But perhaps the coolest thing has been the way the community has flocked to MELROSEandFAIRFAX for the latest breaking news on Banksy, and not only find out about what's happening, but contribute to the making the story itself and submitting, what we believe to be exclusive shots of Banksy's Crayon Soldier before it was buffed.

It has been a wild ride, and we have only managed 10 hours of sleep the last 3 nights combined. It has been well worth it, and we have loved every moment of this chase. Huge thanks to all the viewers, followers, and contributors who have made all this magic happen!

And our personal guess is that there might be a new crop of Banksy street art in Los Angeles after the Oscars are awarded. Win or lose, we expect to see something. (But c'mon, no doubt Banksy is going to win! When is the last time people were talking about the award so much?)

Keep checking back to MELROSEandFAIRFAX for the latest, greatest breaking news on Banksy in LA.

Property Mismanagement

The internet has been abuzz with rumors that Urban Outfitters plans to fully buff Banksy's Crayon Soldier. The group even has its own page on Facebook.

But according to the LAist, Urban Outfitters is telling them that they want to keep the mural, but the property manager has other ideas and want to have the Crayon Soldier colored over.

Here is the statement that Urban Outfitters submitted to LAist

"We love Banksy and have been long-time supporters of his work. Banksy: Wall and Piece has been one of our top 20 books for the past four and a half years. We are proud to have his "Crayola Shooter" mural on our Westwood store and are doing everything in our power to convince the property manager not to touch this important work of art."

We hope this can get resolved in a way that preserves the Crayon Soldier. And while it might get Urban Outfitters off the hot seat for buffing the piece, it just stokes the other rumors that Banksy's hitting the spot at Urban was a reward for selling his book, Wall and Piece.

Banksy Crayon Soldier Buffed!

Well, not entirely, but parts of the wall were buffed off by the cleaning squad before any pics were released, even our first jump exclusives or Lauren Conrad's early morning tweeted pic.

MELROSEandFAIRFAX has just received an exclusive set of pictures that show the full Banksy piece before it was buffed.

As far as we know, these are the only full pics of the original piece anywhere in the world. Click the jump below for the full story and pics.

Good Not Great

Of course the title refers to the stickers to the side, not the work of Ron English.

People are talking about the meaning of Banksy's Crayon Soldier piece, and there are many different versions.

We are not sure exactly, and believe it is open to interpretation, but this shot should help show the difference between a child holding a gun, and the commentary that is taking place within in Banksy's piece.

Click the jump below for more