Banksy/Oscar Drama [UPDATE 3] New Banksy in LA? Yup, 3 So Far…Make that 4

As soon as those of us at Hyperallergic heard that Banksy was nominated for an Academy Award, we knew that drama had to follow. Here’s the latest.

According to The Wrap, who spoke to Academy president Tom Sherak:

If Banksy isn’t comfortable showing his face on the Kodak stage, Sherak said, then the Academy isn’t comfortable having him on that stage.

But don’t worry, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences probably loves the buzz around the film and this will be used as just one more unorthodox PR push (did we expect less from the illustrious Banksy?) and they made an agreement with Banksy’s team. Though I’m assuming this doesn’t mean the Brit is guaranteed to win.

Question, is anyone else freaked out by the possibility that James Franco could be handing an Oscar to a potentially masked Banksy on the Academy Awards stage?

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Now, RJ from Vandalog has been nice enough to let us know in the comments of this post that a new Banksy may have been spotted in LA by none other than Lauren Conrad of The Hills, which makes me wonder if this “spotting” was staged:

Is Banksy in LA? http://yfrog.com/hs9xjnaj

February 15, 2011 1:04 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@LaurenConrad

Lauren Conrad

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UPDATE: If we needed any more proof that Banksy’s PR team is involved in the promotion of his art then check out what street art photographer Jake Dobkin said at the Arts Tech social media week panel today as quoted by an attendee:

"Banksy's PR team emailed me last night at 10pm to tell me where the piece is" - tales from a graffiti documentarian, @JakeDobkin #artstech

February 15, 2011 8:47 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@pbj4life

Nicki Sebastian

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UPDATE 2: Yup, seems to be a bunch of Banskys, three to be exact. Photos at Laughing Squid and Wooster Collective.

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UPDATE 3: Ok, there is a 4th. And turns out two of them have already been taken down or covered up (the Charlie Brown piece and the one below) Thanks @FreeSpkr

Dang. And they're down. http://melroseandfairfax.blogspot.com/ @flavorpill_la @hyperallergic #streetart #BanksyattheOscars

February 16, 2011 10:12 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@FreeSpkr

Cheri Hierbaum

Tagged as: Academy Awards, Banksy, RJ Rushmore, Tom Sherak, Vandalog