A man in front of British artist Banksy's spray paint on a UKIP placard, and other works which feature in this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Photo / AP
A man in front of British artist Banksy's spray paint on a UKIP placard, and other works which feature in this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Photo / AP
One of the UK's most prestigious art galleries rejected a Banksy painting submitted under a pseudonym - but then personally invited him to put an artwork on display.
Banksy posted a snap of the Brexit-themed painting, which mocks the "Vote Leave" motto and changes it to "Vote to Love", on his Instagram account.
He submitted it to the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition using the name Bryan S Gaakman - an anagram of 'banksy anagram' - but had the work rejected.
The painting, featuring a poster saying "Vote to Love, EU Referendum Thursday June 23", shows a metallic heart-shaped balloon covered in plasters.
But a month later, fellow artist Grayson Perry, curator of the exhibition, personally invited him to submit an artwork - and the painting was put on display.
Banksy wrote: "I entered an early version of this into the RA summer exhibition under the pseudonym Bryan S Gaakman - an anagram of 'Banksy anagram'.
"It was refused.
"Then a month later I got a mail from the co-ordinator Grayson Perry asking me to submit something so I sent it again. It's now hanging in gallery 3."
Banksy around the world: Three of artist's most recent works
MARCH 2018: NEW YORK CITY
Pedestrians walk by the latest work by the elusive British street artist Bansky along a wall on Houston street in Manhattan on March 16, 2018 in New York City. Photo / Getty
Banksy unveiled a 70ft long mural in New York last month dedicated to Turkish artist Zehra Dogan who was jailed for two years for painting a picture.
The mural bearing the slogan Free Zehra Dogan was installed on the Houston Bowery Wall, made famous by Keith Haring in the 1970s.
Banksy's work features a projection of Dogan's original painting above a white wall covered in tally marks depicting the time she has already spent in jail.
But just hours later a vandal added signature tags to the artwork on the wall in Manhattan, scrawled in red across the bottom half.
JANUARY 2018: HULL
Perspex covers the Banksy graffiti art that was on a disused drawbridge after it was defaced on January 29, 2018 in Hull, England. Photo / Getty
A Banksy mural, which holds a hidden anti- Brexit message, was completely sprayed over just two days after it appeared on a bridge.
The graffiti artist said he was behind the work on Scott Street Bridge in the East Yorkshire city of Hull three months ago.
But just two days after it was installed, the stencil of a boy wearing a cape and helmet alongside the words 'Draw the raised bridge!' was defaced.
Since the artist confirmed he was responsible to his two million Instagram followers, huge crowds had flocked to see the work.
New claims over the identity of Banksy intensified late last year after a picture emerged of a street artist finishing off a Banksy artwork in Bethlehem.
Dressed in a distinctive fedora hat, the middle-aged man was wearing grey cargo shorts and a grey fleece and was clutching a stencil and an aerosol can.
But the man in the photo - taken in a courtyard near the holy site of the Chapel of the Milk Grotto - turned out to be Anglo-Israeli graffiti artist James Ame.
The stencilled artwork says 'Peace on Earth *Terms and Conditions Apply'.
