I went the morning it came out and there was no queue....thought it was spectacular

leaving now to go check out the show...

I'm heading over to New York at the end of the week and can't wait!

Has anyone got any top tips for must do NYC things this weekend???

I'm thinking art, comedy, restaurants... Cheers!

I got back this morning. go to the bottom of Wooster where it joins Canal and walk up Wooster to check out all the stuff plastered to the walls (dont forgot to see the piece at the bottom - on the right as you walk down Wooster across the road ;-) .

I'm not usually a tourist, but did a trip up the Rockefeller which if weather is good is worth a half hour of your time, but pre-book tickets otherwise you can wait in line for a while.

230 fifth (230 Fifth Avenue) is a poncey upmarket wine bar but with wicked views.

Hopefully form part of a UK based show sometime soon as its been a while, some might end up as being included in the ghetto, but then again he isnt a fan of re-using pieces or ideas.... so it might just be canned.

Would be a shame if we dint get a chance to see it here in the UK Must have been very expensive to put on, so would make sense to use them again
Maybe the workings can be adapted to create a whole new set?

there's a lot of different animal ideas he can use so if he does do it in the uk or anyother country the show will still be big and giving out the same mesage

Love this idea. I think this will put Banksy up with Hirst and Koons.

The Pet Store has two more videos up and running. Still waiting on Tweety.

Nuggets


CCTV

www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/british-artist-banksys-chicken-statement/2008/10/14/1223750031301.html

Nuggets of truth in Banksy's New York debut

HE IS best known for his graffiti art but for his first official New York show, the British artist Banksy has turned his hand to moving figures.

The Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill is set in a faux pet supplies shop, complete with actors playing assistants, and features animatronic fish-fingers swimming lazily around a goldfish bowl, hot dogs frolicking in terrariums, a monkey wearing headphones and watching television and an aged, bald and miserable Tweety swinging back and forth in his cage.

Nuggets features two bite-sized chicken pieces pecking at a single-serving carton of tomato sauce, watched over by mother hen. Big Cats shows what appears to be a leopard resting on a branch in a cage which, on closer inspection, turns out to be an ingeniously arranged fur coat.

Juxtaposed with the animatronic displays are real pet supplies, packages of luncheon meat and odd foodstuffs, such as quail eggs and pork titbits.

The animatronic hot-dogs have reportedly sparked complaints from people unhappy about seeing two hot-dogs performing a sex act. Other passers-by have complained about the lack of space for the caged leopard and monkey.

New York had been buzzing with rumours that the elusive artist was in town, as giant rat murals appeared throughout the city before the show's opening last week. In a written statement, Banksy said: "New Yorkers don't care about art, they care about pets. So I'm exhibiting them instead."

He added: "I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing."

Banksy's graffiti is so valuable that the surfaces on which it is daubed have been removed and the work sold. The actress Angelina Jolie spent £1 million on a work by the artist at a London auction last year. In this show, nothing is for sale and nothing is signed.

The New York Times said: "Banksy's statements, like much of his pranksterish oeuvre, should be taken with a grain of salt. But there's no denying the show's attention to comically pointed detail."

Stephan Ludwig, the chairman of Dreweatts auctioneers in London, thinks Banksy might have moved into sculpture "partly in response to his street work being taken off the streets and sold at auction".

The Village Pet Store is on show at 89 Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York, until October 31. Go to www.thevillagepetstoreandcharcoalgrill.com/