Walking through a back lane in Stanmore the other day and saw this very familiar stencil (see pics).

It is none other than a very well known graffiti stencil from (quite possibly) the most famous graffiti artis in the world: Banksy - from Bristol in London.

It’s not the first time Banksy has come to Sydney to complement the public Sydney canvas with his free artistry, but I never expected to see one in a very out-of-the-way back lane in Stanmore… But this is the inner west! And low and behold I saw the first stencil go up and then a few weeks later, some more stencils added… Has Banksy been in Sydney for weeks? Staying with mates in Stanmore?

To add more fuel to my curiosity, I even saw one of his trademark rat stencils in Petersham with one of his slogans, and also a bunch of street posters and billboards in Newtown that had bright yellow smiley face stickers plastered over the top - another banksy trademark…

It could very well be that these are rip-offs (it does happen), but they may be genuine. I prefer to believe the latter.

I’d love to meet the man, but that’d be difficult seeing as no one really seems to know who he is… the problems of being brilliant yet illegal artist… (Banksy, if you’re googling your name and end up here, feel free to leave comment!)

Either way, my advice to young players is to keep your eye out for the little Banksy gems that might be gracing the streets of Sydney and start by familiarising yourself with his works at www.banksy.co.uk