'Guerrilla artist' Banksy goes from streets to salons

LONDON — At a white-walled gallery in one of London's priciest quarters, a small army of stenciled rats and smiley faced storm troopers is awaiting an invasion.

The chic Andipa Gallery is expecting a stampede of art buyers to its latest exhibition of works by Banksy, the pseudonymous "guerrilla artist" whose satirical images have gone from street-corner graffiti to coveted artworks that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Gallery owner Acoris Andipa says Banksy's rise from hip outsider to art-world star has been rapid, as he discovered when he held a preview in the exclusive Swiss resort of Gstaad.

"Last year, we were having to explain who Banksy was and why his canvases were 30 or 40,000 pounds ($60,000 to $80,000)," Andipa said. "This year, every single person — including clients who'd come in their Lear jets — walked in and said, 'Wow, Banksy — and it's only 150,000 pounds ($300,000).'"

Such prices are no longer exceptional. Last year, a Banksy went for almost $600,000 at a London auction. "Keep It Spotless" — a Banksy stencil over a polka-dot painting by British artist Damien Hirst — recently sold for $1.8 million in New York.

The 60 works in the Andipa show range from $15,000 for limited-edition prints to $900,000 for a painting of sharks circling supermarket trolleys full of bright orange fish.

Banksy's opinion of all this can only guessed. Andipa does not know or represent him. The works in the show — on wood, canvas, fragments of wall and pieces of metal — were bought from collectors around the world.

Banksy's Web site says the artist does not endorse gallery shows of his work and disapproves of auction houses selling his street art because "it's undemocratic, it glorifies greed and I never see any of the money."

His publicist, Jo Brooks, said the artist had no connection with the Andipa show.

It's a classic Banksy contradiction that he is famously publicity shy, but also employs a publicist. He's an expert at blending an outsider image with commercial savvy. He almost never gives interviews, avoids being photographed and has not even confirmed his real name.

Most agree his name is Robert — or possibly Robin — Banks, he is in his early 30s and he comes from Bristol in southwest England, where he began his graffiti career in the 1980s and 1990s.