“Banksy In New York” by Ray Mock

Ray Mock, the one man publisher who photographs, designs, and writes insightful observations of his daily Banksy revelations in his new book is no stranger to the New York graffiti and Street Art scene. “I had mostly been shooting graffiti in recent years, preferably grimy tagged up doors, man-size fill-ins, freight trains and illegal pieces in abandoned buildings or along railroad tracks,” he says in the introduction to Banksy in New York, one of the first books dedicated to the one month “residency” the superstar Street Artist mounted in October of 2013.

Banksy In New York by Ray Mock. (photo of book cover by Jaime Rojo)

Filled with photos of the various installations of his “Better Out Than In” show, as well as the scenes that popped up around them, Mock finds that the personal experience is a fitting voice for description when it comes to how you see art on the street. With humor and a bit of sarcasm not unlike the subject of the book, Mock leads the reader along the path of the near-daily occurrences of new aerosol stencils, paintings, sculptures, mobile performances, and even a bucolic diorama in the back of a box truck.

Only a street watcher like Mock is able to reveal through observations and posing questions just how much of the great Banksy caper may be staged, and how much is real. If the art doesn’t get your attention, the circus that surrounded it for a month in New York streets will.