The world was first taken by storm when street artist Hanksy and his pun-centric works exploded into an iconic viral sensation, and then when he continued his streak with his street art-chronicling series, Hanksy’s “Surplus Candy.” Recently, the masked pop culture satirist took a big risk and did things his own way with a new pop-up art space in an abandoned bank in New York at 104 Delancey Street, complete with a pinball machine, makeshift skate ramp, and a gallery within the gallery with work from national street artists like Cope2. Though he has worked with multiple galleries before, this recent exhibit titled “Best of the Worst” was his first crack at solo curation, done completely self-funded with no sponsors.

“Yeah, okay, build a half pipe… We’re gonna have to tear it down in one day. Why? Well, why not?“

See what the mystery man had to say about the risky process of going fully DIY to create your own pop-up art space and what it means to really chase and pursue your vision, with footage from the opening below:

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Follow Hanksy at Hanksy.com and on Instagram @HanksyNYC. Photos above by Pete Pabon, video filmed by Joe Bressler, edited by Johnny Chang.