Holy Shit! Banksy Almost Got Caught! (For Real!!!)

Banksy unveiled his new piece this morning, but before he did, New York Blog Gothamist released pics of the same piece from a contributor who said that she saw the artist (Banksy) leaving!

When asked to describe what she saw, the contributor said "I saw a man wearing construction gear loading something into a rental truck as I was walking to the train, which I thought was a little odd because there wasn't any construction going on there. I looked at the wall and immediately recognized it, so I looked at the driver and he was a middle aged white man wearing glasses. He smiled and nodded and drove away pretty quickly."

Holy shit!  Looks like Banksy almost got busted!  Not by the police, but by the public.  Guess Banksy's awareness campaign is getting out there, but it seems like that is making what he is doing a bit more difficult.

There is still over half a month to go for Better Out Than In and Banksy's NY Residency, and now New York knows some tricks of Banksy's trade to look for!

Click the jump for more pics

Did Banksy Get Busted?!

Earlier today, a news story got picked up on major sites saying that Banksy has been arrested on vandalism charges, and that his identity has been revealed.

So did Banksy get busted?!

No.  The updates to the story above develop to say that the major news sites had been trolled.  Banksy has not been arrested, and the initial report is not true.

Dumb Fuck Buffman

A lot of graffiti and street artists would say that the Buffman is dumb as fuck.  Well, one really is--and just got busted for it.

In Burbank, a buffman hired by the city was caught for doing graffiti on walls, and then charging the city to buff his own tag.  

Seems like a silly and circular practice.   Yes.  But the world would be a better place if all buffmen spent their time buffing themselves instead of true artwork.  

Also interesting to note that the Busted Buffman only billed the city $2,200 for over 100 bogus tags.  Cities have often cited insane prices for buffing graffiti when prosecuting graffiti and street artists, sometimes charging more than $2,200 for one tag alone!  This sheds some light on the true cost of buffing graffiti--less than $20 per tag (and even that seems high).  

Read the full story below:

A graffiti-removal worker was arrested for allegedly
tagging various locations in Burbank and then fraudulently billing the city to
remove the same tags, police said today.
Enrique Medrano, 53, was arrested on Thursday and was booked on
suspicion of vandalism, burglary, and forgery, Burbank police Sgt. Darin Ryburn
said.
``Medrano was employed by a graffiti-removal company, contracted by the
city of Burbank, and was assigned to clean and remove graffiti in city parks,
alleys and other public areas,'' Ryburn said.
``Over the course of the investigation, Medrano was involved in applying
over 100 graffiti tags in the city, removing the same graffiti he applied,
and subsequently submitting fraudulent billings to the city for work
performed,'' Ryburn said.
The fraudulent billings totaled more than $2,200, Ryburn said.


***Thanks to LOUDLABS for the updates on local graffiti and street art news!***

Don't Get Caught Doing Graffiti

If you're going to get up, don't get caught~

Graffiti Writers BUSTED!!

^Rusia hits this freeway spot back over the summer--The city claims this piece alone costs $25,000 in damage.

Police orchestrated 3 early morning raids to bust to graffiti writers, Rusia and Aldoe . . .