Most street artists have a little trouble with the law on occasion.

It usually involves getting busted for making art in places that people consider private property.

That is, until you get as big as Banksy.

When he was in Venice, Banksy had a bit of a run-in with the authorities, but not before his art made it into all of the major news publications.

He’s currently involved in a court case with a greeting cards company, which has prompted him to open his own shop, but that’s the kind of problem that only comes up when you’re beyond famous.

In more recent news, one of his paintings has sold at auction for a record-breaking £9,88 million.

Here’s Bloomberg,

Bidding for the 14-foot-wide painting, titled “Devolved Parliament,” lasted 13 minutes before the hammer fell at Sotheby’s evening auction of contemporary art. The work, acquired by Sotheby’s Emma Baker for an anonymous client, had a presale estimate of 1.5 million to 2 million pounds.

The painting, followed by a few close-ups:

The sale broke Banksy’s prior auction record of £1,04 million, set last year when another of his paintings, ‘Girl With Balloon’, famously destroyed itself.

The painting, which is massive, depicts British politicians as chimps.

I’ve always thought of Boris Johnson as more of an albino orangutang, but that’s just me.

[source:bloomberg]