Banksy Phone Box, by Daniel Silk on Apr 7, 2006 10:17:34 GMT 1, www.thisislondon.co.uk/londoncuts/articles/22246750?source=Evening%20Standard

Operator, I've been cut off...
By Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard
6 April 2006
An old red phone box lies smashed against a wall on a Soho street corner. It appears to have been sawn in half before being roughly stuck back together.

A closer look reveals that a pickaxe is embedded in its metalwork and a pool of something that looks suspiciously like blood marks the point where it was severed.

You could be forgiven for believing this is the work of vandals but it is the latest offering from art terrorist Banksy, who has branched out from his usual form of expression - graffiti - to create the dismembered phone box.

A decommissioned shell bought by the famously secretive artist, it appeared in Soho Square yesterday morning. It proved an attraction with office workers, traffic wardens and drinkers who throng the area. As our pictures show, even policemen seemed amused by it.

And British Telecom declared itself impressed. A spokesman valiantly sought to put a positive spin on the piece, claiming: "This is a stunning visual comment on BT's transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider. Can we have one for reception?" But Westminster council did not see the funny side.

By yesterday lunchtime it had removed the phone box because Banksy had failed to apply for planning permission.

The move infuriated the 31-year-old artist - famous for his "guerrilla" artwork and insistence on keeping his true identity a mystery - so much that he broke his habitual silence to issue this statement: "Graffiti artist vandalises phone box shock. Banksy makes use of a pickaxe in Soho Square. Removed by Westminster council today at 14:00 hrs. Much to the disappointment of locals."

Banksy's previous stunts include creating a 3.5-tonne bronze spoof of the Old Bailey's statue of Justice in thigh-high PVC boots and suspender belt, and stencilling a 5ft image of two Pcs in a gay embrace on a wall near Carnaby Street.

He also once famously fooled visitors to the National History Museum into believing that a stuffed rat wearing sunglasses, a silver chain and a backpack, which he had deposited inside the gallery, was a genuine exhibit.

Visitors to the British Museum were similarly taken in by a "cave painting" of a primitive man pushing a supermarket trolley which the artist left in the gallery of Roman British artefacts.

In an article for the Evening Standard this year, Banksy observed: "One of the main reasons people flock to London from all over the world is the flash-bang-wallop of its vibrant "yoof " culture. They do not come here to be dazzled by an all-pervading air of common sense."

A spokesman for Westminster said: "Although Westminster council is keen to encourage public art, we do try to be careful about where it is sited. We have suggested that Tate Modern look after his work until he can collect it."

• Christina Aguilera recently paid £25,000 for three of Banksy's works during a trip to London. One image featured a pornographic picture of Queen Victoria.