Hands Up! Against the Wall!

In 2005, the British artist Banksy -- then on the verge of becoming probably the world's most famous street artist -- walked into the Museum of Modern Art and three other New York museums done up in a beige raincoat and fake beard, looking more like a subway flasher than a ''quality vandal,'' as he called himself. Once inside he furtively mounted his own work among the masterpieces, relying on speed and two-sided tape rather than curatorial consent as his way into the collections, at least until guards noticed. ''These galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of millionaires,'' he wrote later in an e-mail message to a reporter, explaining his dim view of museums and his desire to see his work inside one purely to poke fun at the whole idea. ''The public never has any real say in what art they see.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]