By Banksy. Century, 240 pp, $27.95, softcover

Of all those who make their statements to the world armed with aerosol cans and vitriol, few have achieved the name recognition of Banksy. The London-based artist, who chooses to preserve his anonymity, is best known for his stencilled graffiti works, many of which have achieved iconic status. Wall and Piece documents a large number of these spray-bombed images, highlighting their humorous but pointedly subversive messages: a winking rat dribbles a basketball beneath a sign commanding NO BALL GAMES; a masked street fighter is caught mid hurl, a bouquet of flowers in his fist in place of the expected Molotov cocktail; a chimp wears a sandwich board inscribed "Laugh now, but one day we'll be in charge."

Banksy's incursions into the public sphere don't stop at street level. He is equally notorious for sneaking his ingeniously doctored paintings into museums and galleries, and some of them have even ended up in the permanent collections of the institutions that were the butt of his pranks.

There's no doubt that Banksy has a keen wit and an eye for the deliciously absurd. More questionable, however, is his assertion that all public space is fair game for any dolt with a can of Krylon. "The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff," he writes in a short manifesto. "They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you're never allowed to answer back. Well, they started the fight and the wall is the weapon of choice to hit them back."

A noble sentiment, but it would easier to get behind it if more graffiti artists had even a whiff of what Banksy has in spades: genuine talent.