while we absolutely do not condone such
transgressions at world-class institutions of any kind, we have to say… man,
banksy’s got some cojones.

Graffiti star sneaks work into
Tate
A painting smuggled into Tate Britain by graffiti artist
Banksy went unnoticed until it crashed to the floor hours later.  Banksy, best
known for creating the sleeve of Blur’s current album, glued the painting to the
wall on Wednesday after visiting the gallery in disguise.  The picture consisted
of a rural scene with an image of police tape stencilled on to it.

It
has now been placed in the London gallery’s lost property section.

/>The painting was accompanied by a card which read “Banksy 1975. Crimewatch UK
Has Ruined The Countryside For All Of Us. 2003. Oil On Canvas”.

It
added: “The artist has found an unsigned oil painting and then stencilled police
incident tape over the top.

“He argues that ruining the work in this
way reflects how our nation has been vandalised by an obsession with crime and
paedophilia.”

A statement from Tate Britain said that a man “had
left a personal possession in one of the galleries”.

“Tate security
discovered the item a short while later and it was removed. It is currently
being held in lost property,” it added.

The artist is now selling
another version of the painting at London’s Tom Tom gallery - together with a
video of him hanging it on the wall of the Tate.

Banksy, who keeps
his real identity a secret for fear of prosecution, has turned down four
requests to do adverts for a footwear brand and his work is usually seen only on
walls in cities across the world.

He painted the Queen as a
chimpanzee during her Golden Jubilee and sprayed “Mind the crap” on the steps of
the Tate Britain before the Turner Prize ceremony.

Earlier this year
an exhibition in which he spray-painted grafitti on cows, sheep and pigs, was
closed after the animals became “hot and distressed”.