Banksy paired with emerging street artist for new show

Banksy has been paired with an emerging urban artist working under the moniker War Boutique for an exhibition which opens on Thursday.

The works by elusive graffiti artist Banksy, whose film Exit Through The Gift Shop was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year, are from the secondary market collection belonging to the Andipa Gallery where the exhibition is being held.

Paranoid Pictures, a play on the Paramount Pictures film logo which substitutes a mountain of cocaine for the ubiquitous background, is among the collection of Banksys up for grabs. It is perhaps a barbed reference to film company’s role in producing Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Other Banksys on offer include Girl With Balloon and Custardised Oil. These works topically compliment that of War Boutique, whose textile pieces – variations on combat gear, flak jackets and British military desert uniforms – are a comment on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Acoris Andipa, director of the Andipa Gallery, comments on the growing availability of street art in the mainstream art world:

“We have witnessed the market for urban art continuing to expand and integrate into the mainstream. Works by urban artists are now beginning to be included in the collections of the most respected museums and public galleries worldwide.”

Banksy|War Boutique is at the Andipa Gallery, London from 9 June until 9 July 2011, www.andipamodern.com