Banksy Organizes 'Cans Festival' in London

LONDON - The graffiti impresario Banksy and a host of airbrush-wielding guerrilla artists blanketed the walls of a disused south London tunnel with offbeat murals as part of a three-day stencil-art street party that opens this weekend.

The subversive British tagger turned art-house sensation marshaled more than three dozen international artists for what he is calling the "Cans Festival" - and is encouraging visitors to contribute their own graffiti starting Saturday.

"I'm hoping we can transform a dark forgotten filth pit into an oasis of beautiful art - in a dark forgotten filth pit," Banksy was quoted as saying in the Times of London, which carried a preview of the exhibition Friday.

Jo Brooks, a spokeswoman for the festival, said Cans - a play on the famous French film extravaganza in Cannes - features at least one work from 40 international artists and collectives which sport names such as Bandit, Schhh, Pure Evil, and Orticancvoodles.

Among Banksy's pieces are security cameras growing from a tree, a hooded figure cutting itself with a knife, and a worker spraying over ancient cave drawings, Brooks said.