GRAFFITI GURU

Fresh off the hugely popular Art Gallery of Ontario Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit, Toronto lands another artistic coup this summer with the North American première of The Art of Banksy. The show boasts more than 80 works by the enigmatic (and anonymous) Britain-based street artist, whose pieces tend toward politically charged and subversive graffiti images that pop up in public spaces around the world. The Art of Banksy features photographs of street artworks as well as original sculptures and other works staged at a mixed-use industrial building. As Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s former manager and curator of the exhibit, noted, “We wanted to get the work and bring it out to the people … otherwise, there’s not a chance in hell that they’re ever going to see this number of Banksy artworks together in one place.” (The Art of Banksy, 213 Sterling Rd., June 13-July 11. banksyexhibit.com)