Hottest artist around

Banksy has been hailed as an artistic genius. His works of graffiti are on show at a major London exhibition. But he had a slight problem when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver asked him to decorate his new restaurant with his unique style of spray painting - the police would have been waiting for him.

One of his more bizarre stunts was to break into the elephant enclosure at London Zoo and scrawl: "I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring."

And his penchant for decorating public buildings and bridges has resulted in several outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Despite his notoriety, Oliver heaped praise on the artist, whose real name is unknown, and said he was a fan of his work.

Speaking at Banksy's first major exhibition, called Turf War, he said: "He is brilliant. I've seen his work around London and I love it."

But he admitted he had not met Banksy in person, saying: "I wouldn't recognise him if I was standing right next to him now."

Oliver's artistic director John Hamilton, a friend of Banksy, asked him to decorate Oliver's north London restaurant 15. "We approached him to do the restaurant but it's not his sort of thing and he has to keep a low profile. He has a really naughty sense of humour but he is very shy. If he turned up at the exhibition no one will know."

Hundreds of guests crammed into the exhibition to see Banksy's provocative work, which includes a smashed-up police van, vandalised monuments and graffiticoated live animals under a large "Brandalism" sign. The location of the exhibition, in a warehouse in Kingsland Road in the East End, was kept secret until the eleventh hour.

DJ Sara Cox described Banksy as a "great guy" and said she was considering buying some of his work.

Fellow DJ Dan Peppe - in the national spotlight for his fling with Zoe Ball earlier this year - said: "Banksy is a close personal friend. He's really cool but he won't be here - it's too risky." Banksy's stencils of placardwearing monkeys, Winston Churchill sporting a green mohicanand a flower-throwing demonstrator are highly prized. Last year a bridge in Hackney was emblazoned with: 'Please Drive-By Carefully".

He also created Blur's latest album cover and his canvasses fetch over £10,000.

In a rare interview earlier this week, he said: "I'm doing it because I can. Painting sucks, art sucks - hopefully I'll get out of it soon and find something a bit more worthwhile do to with my time."