I have explored the work of Banksy, and I know that with some examples of his works, he has used another piece of art work to manipulate, to make into his own, and update into the twenty first century.
For example Banksy has used a typical ten pound note, and usually where it would say Bank Of England, this has been changed to Banksy of England, and where the Queen's head is usually has been replaced with the head of the late Princess Diana. This imitated and reproduced money was printed and displayed at a cash machine, that had been created by using his style of stencils and cans of spray paint, on a wall in Farringdon, London. The money is stuck to the wall in a motion that it is overflowing freely out of the machine. With the controversy that specualted the death of Princess Diana, this is a very questionable and somewhat disturbing reproduction.

Banksy being a street artist, when it comes to submitting work into galleries, he just uses other artists work to paint and graffiti over.
' If you want to survive as a graffiti writer; when you go indoors, your only option is to carry on painting over things that don't belong to you there either.'
Banksy has taken such pieces such as Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers,' and Claude Monet's 'Lily pond,' then recreated them. 'Sunflowers,' painted by Van Gogh, was shown as rich and blooming, whilst they have been shown by Banksy as neglected and dead, with the petals around the base of the varse.
Monet's 'Lily pond,' is now a scene, like a canal in Britain. Trollies upturned after being thrown in, as well as traffic cones, littering the waters. Banksy has turned late eighteenth century paintings, into contemporary works of art, that people can relate to!

' My sister threw away loads of my drawings when I was a kid and when I asked her where they were she shrugged and said, "Well its not like they're ever gonna be hanging in the Louvre is it?"
The next extreme for Banksy was 'Making an exhibition of yourself.' This basically means taking a piece of famous art, transforming it, then submitting, without permisson to famous a gallery. One example being an imitation of Andy Warhol's Campbell soup. Banksy took the original idea from Warhol and then changed it from Campbell's to Tesco's Value cream of Tomato soup, in the exact packaging that it would come in a Tesco's supermarket. This was then mounted and framed, and he then snuck it into the Museum of Modern art, New York, where it lasted seven days, before being discovered and taken down.
'After sticking up the picture I took five minutes to watch what happened next. A sea of people walked up, stared and left looking confused and slightly cheated. I felt like a true modern artist.'

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3250124/Banksy-defies-the-credit-crisis-as-his-canvases-fetch-over-350000-at-auction.html

Banksy,2005, Banksy Wall and Piece, Century Publishings.

- Lisa Haith