Has Banksy struck again, in honor of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations?

Sure looks like he might have been the author of this piece depicting Her Majesty as Aladdin Sane—and the painting appeared on Upper Maudlin Street, in Banksy’s hometown of Bristol—but it might actually be by an artist named Incwell.

No one seems to know just yet. Doesn’t matter, it’s amusing whoever painted it.

In case you didn’t get the joke:
 

 
Via Lost at E Minor

 
A new work by Banksy was unveiled today at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Called Cardinal Sin, the work is a bust of a priest with its face sheared-off, and replaced with a square of blank kitchen tiles, creating a pixelated effect. The statue is a response to the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. In a statement, Banksy said:

“The statue? I guess you could call it a Christmas present. At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse.

“I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one.”

Cardinal Sin is a replica of an 18th century bust and is displayed on a pedestal in a room filled with religious artworks from the same century, and has been loaned to the gallery indefinitely.
 

 

 
Via the Juxtapoz
 

Spotted in Soho, New York

Clever. It reminds me a lot of the Tom Hank’s trash can.

(via Wooster Collective)

 
Over the past couple of years, the hyper-ascension of everyone’s favorite street artist has led to all kinds of phenomena, including the mainstreaming of the artform and, yes, its commodification.

In the case of Banksy, the adventure of anonymously creating public pieces is being matched by the similar adventure of swiping and selling them. LA Weekly photographer Ted Soqui’s report on the theft of Banksy’s Caution (after it got tagged) in East L.A. (pictured in sequence L-R above) put me in the mind of Jamaican edge-culture worker Peter Dean Rickards’s 2008 jacking of a larger piece that ol’ Mr. Anonymous tossed onto the outside wall of a Kingston pub. Rickards—who does business as Afflicted Yard—shot the video below, which also documents the amazing dynamics that can happen when a dozen Jamaican men work on the same project.
 

The Afflicted Yard: The Rock from Peter Dean Rickards on Vimeo.

 
After the jump: yes, a documentary about how to steal and sell a Banksy…

 
Finally! And such an ordinary chap.
 

 
This week, Time magazine designates the top 10 guerrilla artists deemed “hip” enough to make it into Time magazine.  Along with the usual suspects —Fairey, Banksy—they do some hat-tipping to lesser known forebears like Xavier Prou, and Simon Rodia, whose Watts Towers have been celebrated by everyone from Charles Mingus to Andy Warhol.

Time Magazine’s Top 10 Guerrilla Artists

Via The World’s Best Ever