You will know him as the anonymous hoarding artists who put a smile on many faces throughout Tauranga during the election.

Now he's ditched the ‘anonymous' tag and SunLive can reveal his name is Benjamin Lloyd, a Mount Maunganui artist who specialises in airbrushing anything and everything.

Artist Benjamin Lloyd and his Secret Art Slaves assistant with the Ford Falcon he is auctioning off for charity on Trade Me. Photos: Bruce Barnard

Benjamin has struck again, but this time no dodgy activity was involved. Instead he's airbrushed a 2000 Ford Falcon which is up for auction on Trade Me.

The catch? The auction, which end on Wednesday, started on a $1 reserve and his goal is to donate up to 20 per cent from the sale to charity.

Benjamin hopes the Falcon will be the first in a series of ‘canvases' that he plans to produce.

He was inspired by Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, who started with a red paper clip in 2005 and bartered his way up to a house through a series of online trades.

'Instead of swapping I'll put each canvas up for auction, donate some of the money to charity and use a portion to buy the next canvas,” explains Benjamin.

'The charity will be chosen based on the canvas, and for this auction I'll be donating to the Child Cancer Foundation.”

The 2000 Ford Falcon has done roughly 490,000km, is reliable, and will be sold with a fresh warrant of fitness and registration.

This particular canvas features a number of pop-culture references including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Transformers.

Each canvas in this planned collection will also feature a solitary Wally from the children's book series 'Where's Wally?”

Benjamin says in a former life the Falcon was an ex-police vehicle, which might explain the dents in the bodywork.

He says: 'The car is a real piece of art, it's authentic and instead of fixing the dents I airbrushed over them to make them look like they are meant to be there.

'I've chosen her as the first of my collection because she's done the hard yards, she served justice and deserves it.”

The goal for Benjamin is to airbrush up to two canvases a week, and while he'd 'love to do hundreds” it's a matter of taking it one artwork at a time.

Anything and everything will suffice, he says.

Benjamin adds:'Cars, boats, motorbikes, guitars - you name it and Secret Art Slaves will spray it.”

A FAMOUS FAN

It's not every day the Prime Minister asks for your signature, but that's exactly what's happened to Benjamin.

This week he plans to sign the political hoarding in which he depicted National leader John Key and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges as Batman and Robin.

'He was gifted it from Simon Bridges and wanted to get it signed before he received it,” says Benjamin.

'He loves it and apparently he's going to put it up in his bach, so that's pretty cool.”

To view the Benjamin Lloyd's Trade Me auction for his airbrushed 2000 Ford Falcon and for links to the Secret Art Slaves website click here.