Barely Legal was a show by graffiti artist Banksy, held in an industrial warehouse in Los Angeles, California, in 2006. [1] The free show was held over the weekend of 16 September 2006.
Part of the exhibition was a 37-year-old Indian elephant that was painted to match the wallpaper of the room in which it was placed. The show was meant to address important issues such as poverty, which is ignored by most people; [2] the animal was a literal representation of the "elephant in the room".
While in Los Angeles, the artist also targeted Disneyland in Anaheim, where he disposed of a figure dressed up as a prisoner from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp behind on one of the rides, intending to draw attention to the situation in the detention camp, [3] where several months earlier three inmates had committed suicide. The figure was taken down after approximately 90 minutes. [3] A video of the artist placing the figure in the theme park could also be seen at the exhibition. [2]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often known by his initials KSM, is a Pakistani terrorist, mechanical engineer and the former Head of Propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He is currently held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-related charges. He was named as "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" in the 2004 9/11 Commission Report.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Adventureland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style theme parks run by the Walt Disney Company around the world. It is themed to resemble the remote jungles in Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania and the Caribbean. "To create a land that would make this dream reality", said Walt Disney, "We pictured ourselves far from civilization, in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa."
Jungle Cruise, formally named Jungle River Cruise, is a riverboat amusement ride located in the Adventureland themed section at various Disney theme parks worldwide. The attraction is a simulated riverboat cruise that travels along a waterway using a concealed guidance system through areas with Asian, African, and South American themes. Park guests board replica steam launches from a 1930s British explorers' lodge, and Audio-Animatronic exotic animals are displayed throughout the ride. A live Disney cast member acts as a tour guide and boat skipper that loosely follows a rehearsed script, providing passengers with a comedic narrative.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO, GITMO, or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. As of January 2025, at least 780 people from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 756 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody, and 15 remain.
Stephen Wrench, known professionally as Nigel Wrench, is a British radio presenter and reporter. In the 1980s, he reported extensively from South Africa, and later in London enjoyed a successful 20-year career with the BBC. Wrench is the only journalist known to have interviewed both the artist known as Banksy and the South African activist Winnie Mandela, and continued his journalistic work despite a close brush with death from AIDS-related illness.
Benjamin Flynn, known professionally as Eine, is an English artist based in London.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a 2010 British documentary film directed by street artist Banksy. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles who, over the course of several years, filmed a host of street artists at work, including Shepard Fairey and Banksy, but failed to do anything with the footage. Eventually, Banksy decided to use the footage to make a documentary, which includes new footage depicting Guetta's rise to fame as the artist "Mr. Brainwash". In addition to narration read by Rhys Ifans, the story is largely related by Banksy himself, whose face is obscured and voice altered to preserve his anonymity. Geoff Barrow composed the film's score, and Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours" plays during the opening and closing credits. The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Thierry Guetta, best known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash, is a French-born Los Angeles–based street artist. According to the 2010 Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta was a proprietor of a used clothing store, and amateur videographer who was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the street artist Invader, and who filmed street artists through the 2000s and became an artist in his own right in a matter of weeks after an off-hand suggestion from Banksy.
Inkie is a London-based painter and street artist, originally from Clifton, Bristol. He is cited as being part of Bristol's graffiti heritage, along with Banksy, 3D and Nick Walker.
Steve Lazarides is a British-Greek Cypriot publisher, photographer, collector and curator. He has helped popularise street art and underground art.
Benjamin Neel Critchley Moore is a British art curator, entrepreneur and artist. He is the founder and curator of Art Below, a contemporary art organisation that places art in public places and has had shows in England, Germany, Japan and the United States. He is also the founder and curator of Art Wars, an exhibition of designs based on the Imperial Stormtrooper helmets from Star Wars. In 2021, Moore was part of the Art Wars NFT project which resulted in massive losses for the purchasers of the NFTs and claims of copyright theft from artists whose physical work was reproduced without their permission.
Dismaland was a temporary art project organised by street artist Banksy in the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. Prepared in secret, the pop-up exhibition at the Tropicana, a disused lido, was "a sinister twist on Disneyland" that opened during the weekend of 21 August 2015 and closed on 27 September 2015, 36 days later. Banksy described it as a "family theme park unsuitable for children." The aesthetic of the "bemusement park" was potentially inspired by the "Dismayland" series of paintings created by American artist Jeff Gillette, who also participated in the exhibition.
"Turf War" was the first major exhibition by artist Banksy, staged in a warehouse on Kingsland Road in London's East End in 2003.
Girl with Balloon is a series of stencil murals around London by the graffiti artist Banksy, started in 2002. They depict a young girl with her hand extended toward a red heart-shaped balloon carried away by the wind. The locations for this work include street murals in Shoreditch and the South bank in London on the Waterloo Bridge and other murals were around London, though none remain there.
The Drinker is a statue by graffiti artist Banksy, not to be confused with the stencil of the same name, a graffiti artwork of a rat drinking a cocktail, on a wall at North Beach, Lowestoft, England.
Plastic Jesus is an anonymous street artist of British descent, labeled by the Daily Beast as the "Banksy of L.A.". Plastic Jesus produces provocative and subversive street installations, including a 6-inch wall he circled around Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016.
Jeff Gillette is a contemporary American artist based in Southern California. He is best known for his subversive 'slumscape' paintings ironically featuring Disney characters. He is often cited as the inspiration for Banksy's 2015 Dismaland theme park installation, in which he was a featured artist.
Beyond the Streets is a graffiti and street art exhibition and gallery created and curated by Roger Gastman. The first exhibition was held in 2018 in Los Angeles, USA and has since occurred yearly. In 2022, a permanent gallery and store was opened at the location of the original exhibition in LA.