April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Banksy's old Bristol spray-mate Nick Walker is raising the stakes in street-art's battle to make the biggest mark on London.

He will be painting the town red -- and yellow, purple, pink and green. Instead of using cans to paint stencils on undistinguished buildings, Walker is thinking bigger than Banksy by using a giant laser beam to target some of the British capital's landmarks.

His light show tomorrow will project colored ``paint,'' said Mike Snelle, director of the Black Rat Gallery in Shoreditch, which is staging Walker's next show, opening April 17. The locations of the displays are being kept secret.

``Nick has a similar background to Banksy,'' Snelle said. ``The two of them hung out together in Bristol before Banksy moved up to London.'' Walker's 2006 spray-painting ``Moona Lisa'' sold for a record 54,000 pounds ($106,660) with fees at Bonhams's Feb. 5 ``Urban Art'' auction in London.

Black Rat said the exhibition will include 40 new paintings featuring Walker's artistic alter-ego ``The Bowler-Hatted Vandal'' ranging in price from 3,500 pounds to 30,000 pounds. Three new limited-edition prints have also been issued, two of which cost 450 pounds and the third 750 pounds.

``We're undecided how to release the prints,'' said Snelle. ``If we issue them online they sell out in literally two seconds, but if we sell them live 800 people will queue up and it could turn nasty.''

The show starts on April 17. For information: http://www.blackratpress.co.uk/ or +44-207-613-7200.

Arad in Mayfair

Ron Arad, one of the leading names in the ``design art'' movement, is now represented by contemporary-art dealer Timothy Taylor. Mayfair-based Taylor said in an e-mailed statement that he is the U.K. primary dealer for the Israeli-born architect and furniture designer, whose company Ron Arad Associates is based in Chalk Farm, London.

The gallery is planning a first solo show of Arad's work in the spring of 2009, the statement said.

Arad's sculptural, limited-edition metal furniture designs have been fetching high prices at auction and at specialist fairs.

According to Artnet, the auction record for an Arad design is the $409,000, with fees, paid for his 2003 stainless steel ``D Sofa'' at Phillips de Pury, New York, in December 2007.

``For us it's fascinating to have that crossover between design and art,'' said Emma Dexter, the Timothy Taylor Gallery's director of exhibitions. ``Nowadays sculptors are often working with materials like household rubbish. Arad is designing furniture in the spirit of Henry Moore.''

Gupta Record

The market for Indian contemporary artist Subodh Gupta reached a new level at the French auction house Artcurial when a record 502,330 euros ($794,360) including fees was paid for one of his metal sculptures, triple the presale estimate, the Paris- based auction house said.

``Vehicle for the Seven Seas,'' dating from 2004, consists of a bronze luggage trolley and three aluminum suitcases. It was bought by a Paris-based contemporary-art collector bidding in the room in the April 3 sale.

``The Indian market is coming up on an international level,'' said Martin Guesnet, head of Artcurial's contemporary- art department, in a telephone interview. ``Gupta is the representative artist of the moment.''

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are his own.)

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

Last Updated: April 13, 2008 21:23 EDT