The identity of today’s most famous street artist may be a mystery, but there’s one thing we know about Banksy: He is rich. Preposterously, obscenely rich. His work has sold for millions – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie plunked down $2 million for his paintings, including a portrait that skewers Michael Jackson – putting the cheeky Brit in a tax bracket that his predecessors, like Keith Haring, never enjoyed.
Banksy is known for satirical stencils that began showing up illegally on walls in England a few years ago. This month, he opened his first New York installation, the “Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill” (89 Seventh Ave.), a bizarre collection of animatronic exhibits, including one in which two McNuggets peck at a tub of barbecue sauce. “New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead,” Banksy says. To drum up interest, he plastered rat paintings on walls across the city. Here’s where to find them.
* Broadway and Howard Street: A rat holds an umbrella and a suitcase leaking money. The title: “Let Them Eat Crack.”
* West Broadway and Canal Street: A giant rat holds a window-washing rig on marionette strings. On the rig stands a painter who is painting over the rat.
* MacDougal and Houston streets: Painted on top of an ad for the Fox network, another rat holds a paint roller. The slogan reads, “There’s no such thing as good
publicity.”
* Grand and Wooster streets: This rat (pictured) is wearing an I ? NY T-shirt.