ArtNews: Banksy targets Paris Hilton



"Guerilla Art" can be an effective way to infiltrate established art circles and gain mainstream attention, with very little outlay of money. No matter what you think of Paris Hilton, she was targetted by Banksy, another ill-repute artist. Definitely, both are practitioners of New Media.

Here is another blogger's take on the news:

British graffiti artist Banksy is known for his street graffiti and his subversive stunts targeting the art world and celebrity pop culture. In his latest prank, Banksy doctored 500 Paris Hilton debut CDs in the British cities of Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London, replacing the liner notes with his own artwork, the CD with his own remix.

In typical fashion, he has also released a video of his activities (right). He's well known for documenting his illicit affairs.

Now, the sticker on the front of the CD lists the featured songs as "Why Am I Famous?", "What have I done?" and "What am I for?" The album artwork is plastered with phrases like "Race to the bottom of the pile!" and "90% of Success is Just Showing Up".

According to The Independent, "Instead of Ms Hilton's own compositions, the replacement CD features 40 minutes of a basic rhythm track over which Banksy has dubbed Ms Hilton's catchphrase 'That's hot!' and other extracts from her reality TV programme The Simple Life."

In the tampered cover artwork, Hilton is portrayed topless (see after the jump) and the CD lining reveals her head has been replaced with that of her chihuahua Tinkerbell.