Banksy Got Cans!

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Forget the flashy lights, red carpets and plastic people – this “Cans Festival” was celebrated in a dank and disused railway station in London. There, under the unused train platform at Waterloo Station, infamous stencil artist Banksy, brought together 40 international artists and art collectives to help create a free three-day stencil-art street party for the public.

Banksy told the Times of London that the goal of the event was to “transform a dark forgotten filth pit into an oasis of beautiful art – in a dark forgotten filth pit&.
 
There was some serious talent in evidence with names like Fark FK, Snub, M-City, C215, Sadhu and Sten all putting up the brilliant pieces below.
 


 

Apart from being an obvious subversion of the Hollywood-type glitz-swag Cannes Festival of France – this festival was about putting artist and viewer on the same side of the fence/wall. Banksy’s idea was that Joe and Jill Public who’re attending the festival would bring along their own can of spray-paint and lacquer up their own piece of the wall.

The Festival offered the rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of Banksy’s work up close, which, for this festival, included security cameras growing from a tree, an injured buddha, and a council worker spraying over ancient cave drawings.
 

Many thanks to Romanywg’s Flickr photo Stream for the snaps. Go there to check out more from the Cans Festival.