THE cultural phenomenon known as Banksy never appears in either of the two documentaries made about him and his work.

Chris Moukarbel’s documentary for Home Box Office uses mostly user-generated footage from the internet and TV to survey Banksy’s project involving inviting New Yorkers on every day of October, 2013, to find and observe the graffiti he had made the previous night.

The images might illustrate a play on words or a current social issue or people in politics or something that catches his eye as worth turning into an image on a wall or a sculpture or the back of a truck or a youtube presentation. They’re fun. They’re clever. And they polarised attitudes among New Yorkers of every age and social level.

Some think his works have artistic validity. Property owners regard them as defacements, although the buildings on which he makes them are derelict. Others want to own them either for the pleasure they create or the profits they might make on a market forever capricious about what is “in”. I wish I had one.

At Palace Electric