Thrift store find - unsigned Stenciled Jamed Dean on plywood - Banksy?!

I found this cool (but heavy!) piece yesterday at a local thrift store. It's of James Dean & has a James Dean quote on the back w/his signature, but no other signature or mark to help tell who the artist was?
So of course I was thinking, 'stencil art', 'sprayed on a sheet of plywood like from a fence' & 'unsigned' - Banksy??

I know the odds are...long, but he did do street graffiti & never signed it (I remember there was a plywood sheet with a English bobby stenciled on it that Banksy did as part of a wall or fence that different artists did work on a piece & Banksy's ended up at a shop featured on tv; Beverly Hills Pawn- could this possibly be anything like that??

Also with the quote on the back & with the hardware to hang it - could it have been hung so you could see both sides?

Thank you for any info on it!

 

Banksy is a UK artist so the likelihood of them doing an American actor piece in America is unlikely.

Banksy's mo is political and this is fanart.

Graffiti art and stencil art are both extremely popular, easy to do, and done by many artists. For example Shepard Fairey is a famous stencil and graffiti artist who is much closer to your location and does do portraits of famous people. I do not think this is his work either, but it is an example of how popular it is.

Strict provenance is the only way to say you have a genuine Banksy. You must have iron clad chain of existance-to-ownership because banksy does not sign their pieces, sell them (except as performance art), or catalog them. They are one of the easiest to copy and most fraudulently reproduced artists out there currently.

I think it is a fun piece and great for someone who likes James Dean. It looks like it was made by someone who probably makes a living selling inexpensive celeb pop art. Usually at art fairs or markets. The plywood substrate is typical for those.

 

The James Dean "signature" is not his. He died in 1955 and this appears to be newer than that.

 

I didn't think it was his signature, just describing what was on back!

 

I didn't think about him being from Europe - better make my mortgage payment!

 

This phrase in your OP made me wonder -

 

It would also be eery if he signed it and included the year of his death.

 

Eerie but valuable!

 

There is a reproduction of his signature on the front.