ARTIST BEHIND FAKEBOOK AND FAKE BANKSY IS GIVING AWAY REAL ART

New York, October 13 2014 — Artist and author Dave Cicirelli announced on his blog that he is celebrating the anniversaries of his two most important works by giving away an extremely limited run of hand painted Fake Banksy Editions of his memoir Fakebook.

October 21st marks the one-year anniversary of Fake Banksy Sells Out— the unsanctioned sequel to Banksy's infamous Central Park Art Sale that went viral. In it, Cicirelli and his collaborators succeeded in selling all of their explicitly marked "Fake Banksy" canvases a week after the original artist failed to sell more than a handful of authentic pieces.

"Banksy's month long residency of New York was a really surreal time," says Cicirelli, "where the city was taken over by the spirit of mischief. Lance Pilgrim, George Gross, and myself were really inspired by it, and were lucky enough to have our Fake Banksy 'hoax that wasn't a hoax' become part of the narrative."

This October also marks the five-year anniversary of starting Fakebook—the original "fake-cation" hoax. Before there was Catfish, Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend, or Zilla van den Born's Fakecation on Buzzfeed, Cicirelli spent six-months using photoshop and status updates to convince his friends and family he was a disastrous cross-country hike. The wild story included forbidden love in Amish country, doomsday cults, run-ins with the Minute Men on the US/Mexico border, and a variety of other absurd scenarios intended to find the limits of what people are willing to believe.

The hoax became the subject of his well-recieved memoir Fakebook: A True Story Based On Actual Lies (Sourcebooks; 9781402284151; $14.99) and is currently in development for a movie adaptation with Ineffable Pictures.

"In light of the growing mistrust of social media," Cicirelli said, "I feel like Fakebook is increasingly relevant and relatable to people. The real-world impact of these fake events is a great lens to really explore our own reliance and blind trust of social media, but it's done with the same fun and humor as my other work."

The "Fake Banksy Edition" of the book is wrapped in an original art book jacket. He cut the stencils and painted all 25 pieces himself. Each is numbered and signed, and includes a legally notarized “bookmark of inauthenticity,” guaranteeing that Fakebook book was not written by Banksy—a nod to the "certificate of inauthenticity" that Fake Banksy customer received.

"Celebrating the two pieces together makes a lot of sense," Cicirelli added. "Both Fakebook and Fake Banksy show us that little mis-information can be a good thing in the information age, and remind us to be a little skeptical. Plus, the jackets look really great!"

To enter, people just need to post the image below Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag #FakebookBanksy. Ten winners will be selected on October 21