Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Banksy, the graffiti artist who graduated to U.K. galleries and auction houses from the streets, is about to get his first show in New York after prices increased for his work.

The exhibition gets a private view tomorrow at the Vanina Holasek Gallery, West 27th Street -- a week after Bonhams in London said Banksy images would lead its sale of ``Urban Art'' in February.

``The Rude Lord'' by Banksy last month sold at Sotheby's in London for a record 322,900 pounds ($667,967), showing demand from collectors who haven't lost money in the financial markets. The artist, born in Bristol, England, in 1975, has attracted buyers from hedge funds to Damien Hirst, the U.K.'s wealthiest artist. Banksy's works have also been bought by movie stars Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jude Law, Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper.

``New York was a gap in the Banksy market that had to be filled,' said Robin Barton of the Bankrobber Gallery, which assembled 62 paintings and prints for the exhibition from private collections and commercial galleries. ``If it hadn't been filled by us, someone else would have done it.''

The show will be the first selling exhibition for Banksy in the U.S. since September, 2006, when the Lazarides Gallery, Banksy's London-based primary dealer, held a ``three-day vandalized warehouse extravaganza'' in Los Angeles, featuring a live ``elephant in the room'' painted in a red and gold floral wallpaper design.

Works on show at Vanina Holasek will include Banksy's 2006 painting ``Jack and Jill,'' showing children clad in bullet-proof vests, priced at $300,000, and his 2004 limited-edition screenprint, ``Kate Moss,'' parodying Andy Warhol's ``Marilyn,'' at $175,000.

Capturing Zeitgeist

``Banksy has captured the zeitgeist,'' said Gareth Williams of Bonhams, whose Feb. 5, 2008, sale will be the first live auction exclusively devoted to street art. ``His market is supported by an amazingly wide cross-section of people.''

The Bonhams sale, coinciding with the week of London's February contemporary art auctions, will include Banksy's 6 meter- wide stenciled spray paint on wood version of ``Laugh Now,'' showing a row of chimpanzees carrying sandwich boards prophesying, ``Laugh now, but one day we'll be in charge.'' This 2001 work is estimated at 150,000 pounds-200,000 pounds. Another version of Banksy's ``Kate Moss'' print, from 2003, will be estimated at 20,000 pounds-30,000 pounds. The sale will also include works by the U.K. street artists Antony Micaleff and D*Face, and the New York-based Swoon and the international collective Faile, estimated at 5,000 pounds-20,000 pounds.

``Banksy has proved a good investment. Prices have risen particularly steeply over the last 18 months,'' said Williams.

`New Picasso'

``For a growing number of collectors from America, Asia and Europe, owning a Banksy has become almost as important as owning a Picasso,'' said Sotheby's contemporary-art specialist Ralph Taylor. ``Whatever their nationality, whether they're 13 or a grandmother, people instantly get his images. The steep rise in prices also attracts people.''

In 2000, Lazarides sold his first canvases by the artist for 250 pounds. Similar paintings change hands now for 250,000 pounds, said Lazarides, who today opens a new gallery in Newcastle-Upon- Tyne, northern England.

Limited-edition prints by Banksy and a group of other sought-after graffiti artists have recently become the subject of intense speculation or ``flipping.''

In September Lazarides put on sale lithographs by the Brighton artist Micaleff. A queue of buyers camped outside his London gallery at 5 p.m. the previous day. The four ``Impure Idols'' prints, issued in an edition of 400 priced at 1,000 pounds each plus U.K. valued-added tax, sold out within seven hours. Later, single examples of the lithographs were being bid to 2,500 pounds on EBay.

Online Market

``The online market for Micaleff has now dropped off,'' said Nick Tucker of the Shoreditch, London-based street art specialists Black Rat Press. ``So many people put prints on EBay that the market was flooded. They're now selling for cost price or even at a loss.''

According to Tucker, in June and July Banksy's ``Napalm'' print was selling for 10,000 pounds on EBay. At the end of November the same print was selling for 4,300 pounds.

Robin Barton of Bankrobber sees no slackening in Banksy mania. ``I don't think we've seen the top prices yet. There will be more records.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com

Last Updated: November 30, 2007 06:15 EST