Banksy’s Former Dealer Is Releasing a Book of Never-Before-Seen Photos of the Street Artist in Action. See Highlights Here

Banksy’s ex-dealer Steve
Lazarides is releasing a book of unseen photographs of the street
artist in action captured during the time they worked together,
before Banksy skyrocketed to global fame. Banksy Captured is coming out in December, and the first 50
readers to get their hands on it will have the chance to win a rare
Banksy screen print.

Lazarides’s 250-page book of
photographs document the 11 years that the former dealer worked
with Banksy as his agent, photographer, and right-hand man. The
images lift the veil on the secrecy surrounding the elusive artist,
offering a behind-the-scenes look at some of his famous works while
they were being executed.

Asked why the time felt right to
release the images now, Lazarides tells Artnet News, “I only
recently got the negatives out of my loft. The date is just how
long it took me to scan and edit them, and then put a book
together. Nothing more to it than that.”

The photographs will also be
available as limited-edition prints with prices starting at £450
($582). 

Lazarides began his career as a
photographer who documented British subcultures and underground
movements such as the early 1990s rave scene, skater communities,
and the early days of street art. The book, which will be
self-published and self-distributed by Lazarides, comes out in
December and is available for £25 ($32).

If you’re quick off the mark,
you may have a chance of winning a rare Banksy work. Lazarides is
giving the first 50 buyers one of Banksy’s counterfeit £10
banknotes, featuring an image of Princess Diana (one of which was
recently acquired by the British Museum). One of those tenners will
be a golden ticket, and the winner will be given the rights to a
rare Banksy screen print, Bomb Middle England, a countryside scene featuring a group of
people playing a game of boules with bombs.

“I worked with him for 11
glorious years, during which time we broke every rule in the rule
book, along with a fair few laws,” Lazarides says in a statement.
With Banksy, Lazarides founded a screen-printing business, Picture
on Walls, in 2003 to distribute artists’ and illustrators’ works at
reasonable prices before the street art movement gained mainstream
recognition. 

The dealer recently announced
his retirement from art dealing just two years after he opened his
gallery Lazinc. “I hate the art world,” he says. “I only became
part of it because Banksy catapulted the movement into the
stratosphere. It was a ride, however, I’m glad I’m out of it and
about to enter the next ride.”

You can reserve a copy of the
book online at banksycaptured.com. See a sample of the images in the book
below. 

The post Banksy’s Former Dealer Is Releasing a Book of
Never-Before-Seen Photos of the Street Artist in Action. See
Highlights Here appeared first on artnet News.