British street artist Banksy is keeping New Yorkers on their toes this October with a surprise "entire show" cropping up on the streets of their city.
The exhibition, of sorts, is called Better Out Than In. Its first installation appeared near Manhattan's Chinatown on Tuesday, October 1, and depicted two boys with a spray can. However, within 24 hours the piece was painted over.
At the same time, locals were waking up to the news that a second piece had been created in Chelsea, on the west side of the island. Painted on a shutter, the October 2 piece mimicked classic New York graffiti style, with the words, "This is my New York Accent". In serif script underneath the artist had stencilled, "...normally I speak like this".
Within hours, however, the second piece had also been vandalised with the graffiti tag of a rival street artist. Local fans, and those who had travelled more than 100 miles to see Banksy's work were disappointed to find his pieces defaced, as the news and photos spread on Twitter. However, Banksy is posting pictures of his new work through an Instagram account called Banksyny, which allows his 26,000 followers to see the work upon completion.
New York art fans are awaiting further installations, with the third appearing on the morning of October 3: a dog urinating against a fire hydrant in Midtown. This was annotated by a stranger shortly after appearing - the dog was given a lead and a tag - but was then restored by a member of the public. On October 4 three further murals appeared in Bushwick and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Keep up with the artist's new pieces with our interactive map, and photo gallery.
