Graffiti 'artist' on a mission

Last week, one of London's most notorious artists - Banksy, the self-styled "art terrorist" whose real identity remains a minor mystery - launched a daring raid on Tate Britain.

Dressed as a pensioner, he shuffled into the gallery and glued one of his own creations on a wall in order to "wake up" the art establishment.

The small canvas, an oil painting showing a bucolic scene disfigured with police incident tape, remained in place for several hours before being discovered when it crashed to the floor.

Not much is known about this 28-year-old with no formal art education. He comes from Bristol, learned his "trade" as a bootlegger designing unofficial rock memorabilia and lives with a group of friends in Hackney. Here, he gives a rare insight into what drives him...

'People say that what I do - graffiti art - is ugly, selfish and a pathetic attempt to achieve some kind of fame. I'm frustrated by many things but trying to get accepted by the art world and become famous isn't one of them.

I'm best known for my images of monkeys with weapons of mass destruction, girls cuddling up to missiles, and rats with drills which I've daubed on buildings and bridges across the capital. I like the idea of graffiti giving everyone a smile.

The irony is that, despite having to scuttle around London at night with a marker pen, writing graffiti is probably the most honest way you can express yourself as an artist. It costs nothing, you don't need a "serious" education, there's no admission fee, and bus stops and bridges are far more interesting places to have pictures than museums.

We live in a society so full of death, deviousness and inequality that painting pictures seems a pointless way to spend your time. A plumber does more for people than some git who makes abstract art or paints seaside views full of boats. But graffiti has more power; it's a tool that connects directly to the masses.

Sometimes I feel like an "inside out" policeman. Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. But I've become a highwayman "vandal" because I want to make the world a better-looking place. But what I do is more mischievous than criminal. As Picasso said, "the urge to destroy is also a creative urge". And that was precisely my ethos behind what I did at Tate Britain.

And the adrenaline of the whole operation ... well, what a buzz! Where's the excitement of sitting in a field painting horses and flowers? Art should have your pulse racing, your palms clammy with nerves and the excitement of creating something truly original in a dangerous environment. Let's put some rock 'n' roll into it and give art energy.