We blogged it a few weeks ago, but this is worth another mention. If you are anywhere near New York City, and you care at all about animal issues, you are a fool and a loser if you don’t visit Banksy’s “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill” at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street.

The shop touches on humans’ exploitation of animals for food, chemical and behavioral testing, fur, and entertainment. I’ve never been a big fan of Banksy’s drawing/stencil work, but this show is just great, conceptually technologically, and aesthetically. It’s subversive and clever, sure, but also quite touching and unnerving.

It’s great how it’s just a store-front. I suspect most visitors stumbled upon the place, rather than seeking it out. Even if you don’t think you like or understand fine art, you’ll be OK here. It’s just a mock store, with animatronics, just like at Disneyland.

The show closes on October 31st, Halloween. The price and the hours are friendly–free admission, open 10am-midnight. Go!

(There’s lots more there than what’s in the video.)

1 Comment

1. 
   Comment by

   Holland

   on October 28, 2008 at 11:07 pm #

   Banksy, sympathetic to animals?!? Surely you are not serious.

   In 2006, Bansky fully body-painted and displayed for days on end Tai, an unfortunate, for-hire Asian elephant in an LA gallery:

   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5355638.stm

   I don’t think Banksy’s tortured taxidermy exhibit is an indictment of animal exploitation. It IS animal exploitation.