Street Artist Hanksy Takes Over A Former Chase Bank in The LES for "Best of The Worst"

Love him or hate him, Hanksy knows how to throw one hell of a party. Last year we covered his event in the East Village (Surplus Candy), where he and a number of other New York City street artists took over an abandoned building, filling each room, stairwell and door with art. This past weekend, at a former Chase bank in the Lower East Side, Hanksy once again covered an entire space with his pop-culture based artwork filled with bad puns and artwork from an assortment of NYC street artists.

The line to enter the show started to form at 3pm, stretching around the block, with the first 25 people in line getting a package that included three Hanksy prints, and other goodies. The hundred or so others who didn’t leave empty handed. There were chances for art lovers to get their hands on inflatable phallic balloons, or if they brought along their skateboard, they could ride the half pipe built for the event with work from artists Kosby, Elle, Lexi Bella and others. This show, much like Surplus Candy, was promoted as a Hanksy show, however, the unidentified street artist makes it a priority to showcase work from many other NYC street artists. The walls of the space were covered by artists the likes of See One, Frank Ape, Magda Love and others.

See One

Inside the art space, was another art space. The Gag-Osian gallery was also hosting an event “Purgers and Acquisitions: Selling out Tomorrow’s Street Artists Today.” The small event was sponsored by Tostitos, where people could grab a handful of blue chip tortilla chips from a white bowl in the middle of the “gallery.” We’re sure it was a parody of the gallery scene here in NYC.
Check out our other photos of the two-day event.

Image via The Dusty Rebel

Don’t forget to check out our Street Art archive.
He needs some people to keep an eye on his new next door neighbors the Klopeks, to see what there up to contact the author on twitter @ChrisLInoa