For those who've grown a little tired of pseudo-anonymous street artist Banksy, he's totally stepped it up a level with his biggest stunt to date, and ironically, it's a legitimate show in his home town at the Bristol Museum. The installation features over 100 works, more than 70 of which are brand new, and all with his usual flavor of political satire and mockery.

Kate Brindley, Director of the museum managed to keep the exhibition under wraps from upper management, the local council and most of the museum staff by pretending the build-out was part of a movie shoot. If that's not taking enough risk, she claims she never actually met with Banksy in person to work out the details, instead communicating through agents. Quite a career gamble given Bristol's love-hate relationship with the artist who started stencilling the city's walls in the early '90s.

The exhibition opened this weekend and is free to the public for the next 3 months.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum Bristol Museum Queen's Road, Bristol June 13 - August 31, 2009 Daily: 10am - 5pm

via today and tomorrow