Stencil Street Art

Dear Banksy,

I know that you are the king of street art. I suppose that is not a good analogy. You are the Picasso of street art. Better? And I must say, your work is incredible. But I have to also say that Knoxville, TN, has it's own, umh.mh.mh, DaVinci of cinder block and mortar.

I don't know if he has a street name, and I surely won't tell who he is! But our entire office has enjoyed a form of art survey based on his work that can be found between 5th and Gay on King St. A French photographer (Jacques Gautreau) came to our locale to snap some shots and an image of the image ended up in this little rag we've got called the Metro Pulse. At any rate, for me it was an opportunity for a survey, so I hung it up in the office kitchen. See questions, responses and clues below. (Article here.)

Click here for a great image!


Close-up of stencil image.

Clue:

I never claimed to be an existentialist,
Though my books and thoughts may seem absurd. Rebellion gained me being as a perquisite,

That titled me a thinker, which I vehemently preferred.

Now, I personally was surprised that no one actually succeeded in guessing the ID of this fellow, even with my highly obvious clue.

I have enjoyed the other forms of street art floating about, including yours.

Some other nice examples are here, (if you like to look at the work of the street competition.) As a bookish person, though, I like this experience. The Street Book. Talk about reading on your way to work. This beats all.

Is this really the future of the book?

Go here to read the end of the story!

At any rate. I love your stuff and I love having a local street artist too. It's like living next door to an art museum, isn't it?

Betsy

P.S. Who is that man?

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Josh (in comments) was obviously right and submitted this suggested image with cigarette to clarify!