One, they never painted with the idea of someone hanging it on the wall and looking at it full time. But more than that, it's a gift to the city and if it's taken away, it just makes the city a poorer place. A lot of these guys stop painting on the street because what's the point? You know, if you paint something and it lasts under 30 minutes before someone comes and rips it off the wall, then why would you continue painting on the street? It's pointless. So, yeah. To take it off the wall and deny the general public their fix of these artists for the gain of one person I think is wrong." It’s great that this book is showing importance of the specific location of his graffiti, because taken away from the original spot, they just loose the meaning to them. This book is amazing! There are different interviews, from critiques, haters, artists and supporters of Banksy, I loved quotes that were used all along the book made by the artist. So the book documents the period from 1997 to around 2004. Lazarides is also selling some of the images, along with other photographs from his collection, as limited edition prints.

I’ve been intrigued by works of Banksy for many years! Beautiful, fairly simple art that just randomly appears all around the world. It was amazing when his work appeared in Nottingham last year, it felt surreal, shame that it got simply sold in the end, I was really upset, because in my understanding street art belong to the people and streets! Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. According to author and graphic designer Tristan Manco and the book Home Sweet Home, Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. Stencilling walls across the country, craning statues into central London, spray-painting cows - "we had the time of our lives", says Lazarides. It's only in the last five or six years that graffiti has become almost impossible to get arrested for. You know, before that, these guys were really risking their liberty. So his anonymity was born from that."Lazarides has run his own gallery and launched the careers of numerous artists including Invader, JR, Vhils and The Miaz Brothers. He has sold art to A-list stars, and photographed them, too - it's true, he says, when I spot a picture of Dave Grohl on the wall; he really is "the nicest guy".

He says he is proud to be connected with the world's most famous artist, "not just in this era, but any era".Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. Lazarides says he will never tell - "I would genuinely be a villain, not just a pantomime villain" - and refers to the artist as a "he" throughout. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.