Top 10 Guerrilla Artists

From Spray Paint to Stencils
Were it not for Xavier Prou, the world might never have heard of famously infamous street artists like Banksy — who once conceded, "Every time I think I've painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well. Only 20 years earlier." As the grandfather of pochoir, or "stencil graffiti," Prou — under the nom de guerre Blek le Rat — forged a new direction for urban art then dominated by graffiti tags and political slogans. In the early 1980s, the French architect littered Paris' streets with life-size portraits of businessmen, soldiers and himself, as well as hundreds of images of rats — his namesake and an anagram for art.

• Banksy's Secret Art Show