“When you go to an art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.”
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Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director. He has never publicly confirmed his identity. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the…
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culture · Graffiti artist, political activist and painter · film director · painter · political activist · writer · sculptor · graffiti artist · activist shareholder · muralist · street artist · artivist · also Banksy, Robin Gunningham
Born 1973 · Q133600
111 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 58 entries
“Policemen and security guards wear hats with a peak that comes down low over their eyes. Apparently this is a psychological technique, because eyebrows are very expressive, they let you down if you're lying or trying to bully somebody. You have far more authority if you keep them covered up. The advantage of this is that if makes it difficult for your average cop to see anything more than six foot off the ground. Which is why painting rooftops and bridges is so easy.”
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“On Tuesday I went around San Francisco dressed in overalls designating large parts of it as legal graffiti areas.”
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“A lot of people never use their initiative because nobody told them to.”
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“I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.”
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“We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.”
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“I used to tell everyone I meant to be an artist..... I don't do that any more.”
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“Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.”
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“People who should be shot: Fascist thugs, religious fundamentalists, people who write lists telling you who should be shot.”
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“We don’t need any more heroes; we just need someone to take out the recycling.”
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“Think from outside the box, collapse the box and take a fucking knife to it.”
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“If you want someone to be ignored, then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town...”
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“Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas everyday, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people' affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.”
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“The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a few hundred people in the world have any real say. When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires...”
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“Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.”
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“I got home at last and crawled into bed next to my girlfriend. I told her I'd had an epiphany that night [about using stencils] and she told me to stop taking that drug 'cos it's bad for your heart.”
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“I sucked a lot of breasts to get where I am today.”
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“T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.”
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“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done properly.”
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“People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine.”
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“Conversations don't get any better as you get older.”
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“Try to avoid painting in places where they still point at aeroplanes.”
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“'There's no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover.' — Metropolitan Police Spokesperson”
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“Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was.”
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“After sticking up the picture I took five minutes to watch what happened next. A sea of people walked up, stared and left looking confused and slightly cheated. I felt like a true modern artist.”
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“You can win the rat race but you're still a rat.”
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“I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in—like peace and justice and freedom.”
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“The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of runners don't even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It's not surprising a lot of people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse. What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.”
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“Bloodthirsty people should bite their tongues.”
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“When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make any fuss.”
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“Love Poem / Beyond watching eyes / With sweet and tender kisses / Our souls reached out to each other / In breathless wonder // And when I awoke / From a vast and smiling peace / I found you bathed in morning light / Quietly studying / All the messages on my phone”
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“As soon as you meet someone you know the reason you will leave them.”
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“People say painting graffiti doesn't change anything, but the GLA committee found that 'house prices can drop by as much as 10% in badly affected areas' so it's worth bearing in mind if you want to get on the property ladder.”
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“I'd been painting rats for three years before someone said 'that's a clever anagram of art' and I had to pretend I'd known that all along.”
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“In a recent survey of American men 42% were found to overeat, 34% were critically overweight, 10% technically obese, and 8% ate the survey.”
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“My sister threw away loads of my drawings when I was a kid and when I asked her where they were she shrugged and said 'Well it's not like they're ever gonna be hanging in the Louvre, is it?'”
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“Mindless vandalism can take a bit of thought.”
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“When graffiti first started it was about getting noticed. But with inflation 'getting noticed' is worth almost nothing these days. Now you have to be a genuine nuisance if you want to get along.”
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“It's going to take one very special lady, or a whole load of average ones, to get over you.”
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“I think I was trying to make a statement about the endless recycling of an icon by endlessly recycling an icon.”
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“People seem to think that if they dress like a revolutionary, they don't actually have to behave like one.”
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“Why would someone just paint pictures of a revolutionary when you could actually behave like one instead?”
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“Some mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.”
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“Recipe idea: take on fire extinguisher and pour out all the contents. Mix down a nice bright emulsion paint to the consistency of full fat milk, stirring constantly to remove any lumps. Pour into the extinguisher, screw on cap tightly and write on things up to 50 feet high. Re-use by swapping over the CO2 charged canister (costs about one pound). The perfect accompaniment to a night out drinking heavily with friends.”
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“An illegal monument to the British talent for binge drinking and vandalising public property.”
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“Being yourself is overrated anyway. It doesn't help. People say 'I'm just being myself' as if that's some kind of fucking achievement. That's not an achievement, that's not honesty, it's just a lack of imagination and cowardice.”
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“Last year there was a story on the news that went 'A man arrested in Central London today was found to be carrying over a hundred British passports, twenty birth certificates and more than three hundred driving licenses. Police say they have not yet been able to identify the man...'”
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“There are four basic human needs: food, sleep, sex and revenge.”
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“All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?”
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“Painting something that defies the law of the land is good. Painting something that defies the law of the land and defies the law of gravity at the same time is really good.”
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“On my first day of work as a pork butcher the boss showed me a side of meat and said 'just treat the animal like you treat the ladies.' He then hacked off part of the rib cage with a swing of his cleaver, threw it in a polystyrene tray, pulled some cellophane tightly around it, bounced it off his knee and threw it over his shoulder into a bucket. It turned out he hadn't had a girlfriend for over two years.”
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“I was concerned the piece was a bit too much like a legitimate sign and told my mate I thought it went over people's heads. 'It's not that it goes over people's heads,' he said, 'it's just that they all fucking ducked.'”
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“There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.”
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“does not accept that many of the details contained within your enquiry are correct”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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“Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world, I can”
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“A [greeting card] company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art, and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally.”
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BBC: Rare Banksy hand-sprayed LP sells for thousands
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Public attention spiked: 8,116 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.8× the usual 2,109, with 1 article edits.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2025· 8 entries
AAP rated the claim “New Banksy art shows a judge attacking a protester carrying the English flag.” False. The original artwork has been edited to include the flag..
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Snopes rated the claim “U.K. authorities removed a mural by the street artist Banksy shortly after it appeared.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Reported claimRated False. These photos have been edited. The original photos of the mural show someone holding a placard, not a flag. · Full Fact
Full Fact rated the claim “Photos show Banksy’s most recent mural, which depicts a judge hitting a person on the ground who is holding either a St George’s or Union Jack flag.” False. These photos have been edited. The original photos of the mural show someone holding a placard, not a flag..
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Lead Stories rated the claim “A mural painted by Banksy on a wall at London's Royal Courts of Justice depicted a judge striking a prone protester who was holding an English flag” Not A Flag.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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fact checker rated the claim “Banksy, the epic UK-based artist and political activist. Bansky is a pseudonym and his/her real identity isnt known.” fake.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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fact checker rated the claim “An image of a mural, allegedly created by street artist Banksy, showing the U.S. Statue of Liberty walking away with two suitcases in hand.” misleading.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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fact checker rated the claim “I wonder if this portrait by Banksy will be chosen as the official portrait of #PresidentMusk.” misleading.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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The BBC unearthed previously unseen Banksy murals that differ in their execution from the well-known stencil style of graffiti for which the artist is commonly known
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2024· 1 entry
fact checker rated the claim “New Painting by Banksy during 2024 olympics.” misleading.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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2023· 1 entry
Published video “Cut & Run - A Guided Tour”.
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2022· 5 entries
Published video “Ukraine”.
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fact checker rated the claim “The photo of President Putin popping a Ukraine balloon is an artwork by Banksy.” misleading.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Lead Stories rated the claim “Banksy Did Create Putin and Ukrainian Balloon Image” Not Banksy.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Reported claimRated A spokesperson for the artist confirmed Banksy had nothing to do with the picture. · Full Fact
Full Fact rated the claim “A picture of Putin holding a needle to a Ukraine balloon and exploding was created by the artist Banksy.” A spokesperson for the artist confirmed Banksy had nothing to do with the picture..
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Billy Gannon, a local councillor in Pembroke Dock in South West Wales, was rumoured to be Banksy
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2021· 1 entry
Published video “The Great British Spraycation”.
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2020· 2 entries
Published video “London”.
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Users on Twitter began to speculate that former Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan was Banksy
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2019· 4 entries
Published video “Bench Birmingham”.
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Published video “Art appreciation in the Cronx”.
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Published video “Stormzy backstage at Glastonbury 2019”.
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Published video “Street artist in Venice”.
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2018· 4 entries
Published video “Shredding the Girl and Balloon - The Director’s half cut”.
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Published video “Sotheby's, October 5th 2018”.
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Banksy created a piece live as it was being auctioned at Sotheby's
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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A sculpture titled Dream Boat, which was exhibited in Dismaland in 2015, was raffled off in aid of the NGO Help Refugees (now called Choose Love) for a minimum donation of £2 for every guesses of its weight in a pop-up C
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2017· 2 entries
At £205,000 to raise funds for Campaign Against Arms Trade and Reprieve
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Marking the 100th anniversary of the British control of Palestine, Banksy financed the creation of the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2016· 2 entries
The American Numismatic Society received an email from a Reproductions Officer at the Bank of England, which brought attention to the illegality of publishing photos of the banknotes on their website without prior permis
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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A study by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London using geographic profiling found that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham, who was born on 28 July 1974 in Yate,
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2014· 2 entries
Snopes rated the claim “British street artist Banksy was arrested by London police and publicly identified.” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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An artwork on a doorway titled Mobile Lovers was sold £403,000 to keep a youth club in Bristol open, and he created merchandise for homeless charities in Bristol in 2019
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2013· 1 entry
A work titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil was sold for an undisclosed amount after a failed auction to support an anti-homelessness charity in New York
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2012· 1 entry
Olympic games he created several pieces based upon this event
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2010· 1 entry
And has since been removed from its original location and preserved
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2008· 3 entries
The British tabloid The Mail on Sunday reported that Banksy is likely a man named Robin Gunningham, based on several of the artist's most famous works appearing near his London residence in the 2000s
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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In Melbourne, paint was poured over a stencil of an old-fashioned diver wearing a trench coat
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Had changed his legal name to David Jones, but that it was unclear if he has kept the name
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2007· 1 entry
“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place, some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”
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2006· 1 entry
That Banksy's "work looks dazzlingly clever to idiots"
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2005· 2 entries
“Remember crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.”
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“Graffiti is like boxing. The people who do it 'professionally' tend to go round in circles pulling the same old moves all the time. The real entertainment takes place on Amateur's night. That's when you get to watch the bitter and twisted unleash all their pent-up frustrations on an unsuspecting public in a desperate attempt to make some kind of point before collapsing under a cloud of their own blooded spit.”
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2004· 2 entries
Banksy created a limited edition screenprint titled Napalm (Can't Beat That Feeling)
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Placed the piece Banksus Militus Ratus into London's Natural History Museum
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2003· 2 entries
At an exhibition called Turf War, held in a London warehouse, Banksy painted on animals
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Which was rediscovered in November 2023, reporter Nigel Wrench asked if Banksy is called Robert Banks; Banksy responded that his forename is Robbie
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2002· 4 entries
Produced artwork for the Greenpeace campaign Save or Delete
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“Oh my god, that's so cute the way you just draw on stuff and think about yourself all the time.”
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“Nobody ever listened to me and I used to think that was their fault. Eventually I got to realise maybe it was the fact I was boring and paranoid that was the problem. But you find that people who know you rarely listen to a word you say, even though they'll happily take as gospel the word of a man they've never met if it's on a record or in a book. If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.”
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Said he did not consider graffiti a form of art
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2001· 1 entry
As part of the «UK+CH» project, a project of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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1997· 1 entry
To cover advertising of a former solicitors' office on Stokes Croft in Bristol
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1973· 1 entry
Born 1973.
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