the editor talks with you

Unless you are involved in advertising and marketing, you probably never heard of Denny Hatch. I had not either until a publisher started sending me free magazines that Denny wrote for. He soon had me hooked. Now messages from Denny pop up in my mailbox like this one last week. He wrote about a millionaire artist named Banksy. It may be his first or last name, a nickname or a pseudonym. He didn’t say. Banksy says he has wandered around a lot of art galleries thinking, “I could have done that. These galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of millionaires. The public never has any say in what art they see.”

Denny wrote that Banksy caught his sister throwing his paintings into the trash. Asked why, she said, ‘It’s not like they’re going to be hanging in the Louvre.’” Banksy was inspired. “I thought, why wait until I’m dead?” In March 2005, Banksy slipped into four major New York City Museums – The Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Museum. Using strong glue, he stuck onto unused walls brilliantly painted, weirdly wild pictures such as a fake 16th century portrait. The lady is a knock-off of the Mona Lisa although Mona had no gas mask and the ladies do not wear the same garments. One amazing result: hundreds of gallery-goers paused in front of these elaborate put-ons and then moved on without a clue they weren’t officially part of the exhibit. Curators eventually figured it out and removed his paintings. But Banksy claimed his works had hung in major museums.

One morning in June 2006, the city of Bristol awoke to find a Banksy mural high up on a blank wall of the Brook Young People’s Sexual Health Clinic, one of the biggest providers of sexual health advice for young people in the U.K., the clinic claims. The mural was executed in the dead of night atop a 20-foot ladder. Banksy created a tense scene in which a cuckolded man – presumably a husband – angrily looks out the window. Behind him, looking guilty, is his wife in scanties. Hanging off the windowsill is her stark naked lover. Brook Clinic’s medical director Annie Evans e-mailed Banksy to say her team at the clinic are “bouncing with joy.” She wrote, “Did you realize how utterly appropriate your latest subject matter was, given what goes on in the building?... Thanks a bunch and we’ll do our best to look after it.”

Over the years, Banksy has blitzed the UK with hundreds of images in many styles: 17th century realism, Impressionism, Warhol, Pop Art, comic books and cartoons from silly to sinister, happy to horrifying and always outrageous. He has also produced an avalanche of paintings and lithographs for sale. He even decorated a live elephant for the opening of his American exhibition in Los Angeles. His works have sold at auction for six figures up to $1.1 million at Sotheby’s, Christies, Bonhams and, of course on eBay. P.S. A prominent art historian says the Mona Lisa was painted by Michelangelo, not Leonardo. That story next week.

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Jerry Bellune shares stories like this in his book, “Your Life’s Great Purpose.” Chronicle readers can buy personally autographed copies of his $27 book for only $20. Call Jewel or Katie at 359-7633.