If you were wandering round Bankside on Saturday night you might have been bemused to see words appearing on the facade of Tate Modern and wondering if someone spiked your drink. But there was nothing to fear as it was just MC Yan, who rocked China by being the first to use Chinese characters in his graffiti, bringing Laser tagging, the new, high-tech future of graffiti, to London. Part of the Red Mansion Foundation's Down......

Street artist Slinkachu released four new tiny sculptures into the city to mark the launch of his new book this week and five intrepid hunters from the Londonist team set out to find them in a specially designed treasure hunt. In an afternoon's muggy and damp tramping around, we went from the COSH gallery where Slinkachu's work is on display into the West End, to South Bank and right the way over to Brick Lane.......

Whether you queued up for the Cans Festival back in May or missed out on car crashes, piano men, and Banksy getting called out, now is definitely the time to head back over to Leake Street near Waterloo. Almost the entirety of the tunnel under the old Eurostar platform has been painted over with new street art. There may not be the star quality of that guy from Bristol, Brooklyn's Faile, or the ever cheeky......

Sure, the forecast is rather foreboding this week, but frolicking in hot summer showers worked for that splendidly dashing Gene Kelly, so you can make it work for you, too. Finish off July on a rain-soaked, culturally satisfying note with this week's round-up of all sorts of trouble to get into. Oh yeah, and leave the pocketbook at home. Monday: Not exactly known for its diverse and sandy beaches (or, er, any), today's Festival......

Taggers are, by definition and, at the very least, cheeky young scamps but Andrew Gillman who's facing sentencing for criminal damage today, has truly got balls. Not only is he leader of the prolific and international grafitti gang, DPM Crew, and responsible for thousands of pounds worth of railway streetart/vandalism he's also responsible for legitimately decorating the Eastender's set with his signature tags. Auntie Beeb, in search of East End authenticity, hired Gillman for......

As an antidote to last week's focus on BIG graffiti, here's proof that size isn't everything. The Inner City Snail site chronicles a 'slow moving street art project', and comes from the same tiny stable as the much-loved Little People web site. Creative genius Slinkachu assures us that 'No snails were harmed, they just had their homes vandalised'. Catch the book of the site later this year.......

2008 is shaping up to be the year that street art went truly mainstream in London. Currently, you can see Banksy at Selfridges, a half-mile tunnel of talent in Waterloo and, for the eagle-eyed, that subtle bit of wall painting at the Tate Modern. Street art is also getting big in the more literal sense. Here are just a few of the supersized pieces around town at the moment. At the top of the......

If you've been down Tate Modern way recently, you've probably noticed some new additions to the river-facing wall: the Street Art exhibition, which we mentioned back in April, officially opens on Friday 23rd of May, and the pieces have been slowly but steadily revealing themselves over the past couple of weeks. The tech-savvy Tate staff are live blogging as the artworks go up, and getting the artists themselves to throw in their pictures too.......

While strolling along the Southbank one afternoon, Londonist happened to notice a random museum-style plaque tacked low on the side of a building. The plaque read “The Moment A Thought Explains Itself,” crediting the work to Ben Dawson, dated 2008. Somewhere between bemused and amused, we took a snap of the plaque and put it on our Flickr account. Imagine our surprise when other people began contacting us with photos of other plaques and......

What’s more exciting than a derelict train tunnel? A derelict train tunnel full of guerrilla artwork, naturally. Street art lovers call get a good healthy dose of Banksy and others of his ilk if they go to Leake Street in Waterloo this weekend for Cans Festival. A half-mile tunnel, formerly used by the now St Pancras based Eurostar has been given over to 30 artists to showcase their works. Big attractions for the installation......

A new piece by the arch-spraymaster. This latest work is on Newman Street, North of Oxford Street, and is believed to be Banksy's biggest work to date. We'd like to see somebody try and nick this one. If you fancy a rant about Banksy, check out this thread over on Kudocities. Image by jordi.martorell, one of many from the Banksy Flickr pool.......

In the week that Doris' crack gets filled in, Tate Modern has announced plans for a rethink of the building's river-facing facade. Between May and August, a group of the world's most acclaimed street artists will be allowed to daub their designs across designated 15x12 metre areas on the north side of the former power station, the first time the exterior has been used in such a way. According to curator Cedar Lewisohn, the......

So we had Banksy caught in the act and unmasked a while back.... now here's a video apparently of the man himself at work and having his say: Thanks to Gothamist reader Sam Horine for the heads up.......

What's this? London's famous red street furniture turning blue with the cold? Closer inspection reveals that some pillock with a paint pot has been busy in Bloomsbury. The crude vandalism is almost redeemed by the impractically barbed pavement cock. But this is still the work of a pillock.......

Science, the esteemed global magazine of cutting-edge research, has an unlikely cover star this week. Banksy’s Bethnal Green flower adorns the hallowed page with the following explanation: An example of "art" by self-styled guerrilla artist Banksy, as seen in East London in November 2007. Human behavior that would be characterized as antisocial punishment can also be called art; prosocial institutions, most notably the campaign Keep Britain Tidy, refer to Banksy's work as vandalism. Odd......

The new Banksy work on Essex Road is proving rather popular, as this video from romanywg shows. The stencil is already protected by a perspex panel (not shown in the video), after a recent spate of Banksy maulings. Please send links to your favourite London videos, or ideas for videos to londonist - at - gmail - dot com.......

Not only the world’s most famous graffiti stencil artist, England’s own beloved Banksy is also one heck of a studio artist. Don’t believe us (or any of the hype surrounding Banksy)? See for yourself at Andipa Gallery, where – starting this Friday – many of Banksy’s works is to be on view. Most of the exhibition is comprised of studio pieces, many of which are rare and previously unseen. One such rare work is......

Once is a happenstance, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a conspiracy. First the maid of Chalk Farm is painted over (since restored), then we heard the Rosebery Avenue cash machine stencil has also been defaced. And today, it seems the Clerkenwell Road 'Old Skool' pic has been 'collected'. The mural had been surrounded by sheeting for a few weeks, so many suspected it was being removed. But who's doing it? Councils?......

Street art can often be a puzzling medium, but 'Decapitator' is literally leaving people stumped. (If you think that pun's bad be grateful we didn't unleash quips about perfect execution or losing one's head) No advertising model is safe from the London artist's reprographic interventions, not even animated bees. Could it be that Londonist inspired this macabre new art form? Images taken from Decapitator's Flickr photostream. Thanks to Dan for the tip and link.......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

One of Banksy's most famous stencils - the maid of Chalk Farm - got an augmentation this week. Some japester of a joiner added a mantelpiece on Sunday evening. But street art is the most ephemeral of mediums, and the rogue fitting was removed faster than you can say chim-chimeny. Fans of Banksy might like to visit the Andipa Gallery (or 'Galley' as they accidentally call themselves in the press release) on Walton Street,......

Shoreditch is held together by a desultory patchwork of stickers. Even the road signs are prone to the adhesive hallmarks of London's street artists. Here we see the familiar toaster icon, perhaps acting as a Lunar module for its dainty astronaut. Image taken on Holywell Lane.......

Hackney Council are at it again. Taking half arsed decisions on Banksys. Last time they completely removed a stencil of a girl in a frilly dress and gas mask from Gillett Square. This time they've tried to wipe out the crude phallus being painted by the old fashioned, beard and hat sporting artist on the side of the Vietnamese restaurant in Victoria Park Road. What are they like? A council spokesperson said: "Most people......

Everyone who hates Banksy, move along, please. The following will rile you, and we wouldn‘t want to cause readers any undue anguish. This selection of bizarre posters is pasted on the corner of Goswell Road and Wakley Street. The one on the left seems to be an advert for a genuine magazine. The other three, all repeated throughout the neighbourhood, are at first a little more baffling. A cack-handed advert for a human blender, a......

Tutankamun's coming to town! First we had Anubis and now pyramids are popping up all over London. Created by Brazilian pop artist, cheeky looking Romero Britto, with the help of 1500 school kids, the biggest - a colourful 45fter - was unveiled at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park yesterday whilst its smaller sibling, just 25ft, will sit outside the O2 on Peninsula Square, guarding access to the first major exhibition at the sweetly named Bubble......

Reader Chloe sends us these images of what is surely a new Banksy piece in Bethnal Green. And she seems to have captured the face of the artist, hitherto unseen. (However, we've seen that flower shape before, around Shoreditch—perhaps Banksy is here teaming up with someone else.) The work seems to be some kind of riposte to Tower Hamlets council, which recently declared it would erase all of Banksy's graffiti in the borough.......

This weekend Bloomsbury erupts with the Bloomsbury Festival celebrating this famous area. Well known for its literary and historical significance it is also a thriving haven for arts and artists and packed full of beautiful, quirky, intriguing buildings and organisations and the chockerblock programme reflects every aspect of life in Bloomsbury Quarter. Check this out: The Egypt Exploration Society, Foundling Museum, Charles Dickens Museum and the October Gallery are among the "Open Houses" over......

London Street Art 2 is the sequel to, well, erm, London Street Art. The pocket sized book chronicles some of the more interesting graffiti from the past year. We asked photographer Alex MacNaughton about his latest collection of images - many, like the shot above, show street art that has since vanished. Warning: Some readers may find his comments about Flickr disturbing. There's no 'about the author' on the book, so tell us a......

You can always rely on Shoreditch to throw up a curve ball or two. Image taken from Bryankennedy's Flickr photostream.......

There is a white wall between Chalk Farm Tube and the Roundhouse that must see more graffiti turnover than anywhere outside Shoreditch. The recent work by Jef Aerosol, the punk lady and some cruder efforts by Cartrain, were recently whitewashed over. The Banksy maid was preserved, of course. Banksy has attained a level of establishment respect that gives his stencils some kind of listed status. Not everyone appreciates his efforts though. The maid now......