One of my favorite things about watching Exit Through The Gift Shop in Banksy’s pop-up cinema off of Leake Street was being able to once again see some of the animatronics from his Village Pet Store show. Here’s the video that came out of that encounter (it’s from Babelgum, so you may not see the video embedded if you are using certain RSS readers):
Neither of these are the biggest art heist of the week, but it’s been reported that thousands of pounds worth of Banksy artwork has been stolen in two separate thefts over the past few week.
First, the BBC reports that on May 1st, two thieves made off with £16,000 worth of Banksy prints from London’s Art Republic store. One was a Happy Choppers (number 118) print and the other was a Nola Grey (number 15). One of the thieves smashed through the gallery window with a street sign to get inside. So be on the lookout for those numbers if you’re trying to buy either of those Banksy prints in the future.
And then this second report is maybe a bit less reliable. It comes from the Daily Mirror which recently claimed that Banksy was painting a mural in Kate Moss’ home for £150,000 and that Moss was only getting the mural painted so that she could increase the value of her house, a claim which sounds pretty absurd. Now the Daily Mirror says that a thief broke into Moss’ house on Thursday night and stole three artworks, including a Banksy worth £80,000. I wonder what the painting looked like… A Kate Moss portrait perhaps?
Marc Schiller from Wooster Collective said something interesting on Twitter the other day. He said, “Fascinating how each city on Banksy’s road trip (LA, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, NYC, San Fran) reacted completely differently to the art.” He then clarified by tweeting “LA: Indifference San Fran: Appreciation Chicago: Unaware Detroit: Biz Opportunity Toronto: Validation Boston: Confusion NY: Jealousy”
What did he mean by “Biz Opportunity” in Detroit? Well at least two of the pieces that Banksy painted in Detroit were removed by people from the spots where they were painted.
Here’s what happened to Diamond Girl according to The Process Theory:
this is truth, I’ve been holding out on posting this, but i think its time. Famed Banksy artist took aim at Detroit, and like many people who knew it would be short lived, a cohort and i began removing the piece. In the wee hours of the morning. We worked diligently till about six am. Carving out the bricks ever so carefully. I promise, you have never seen a sledge hammer flow ever so softly into brick. as if the girl herself was trapped. When staring a modern legend, and if not the greatest street artist of the last 15 years. a chance to feel, touch, see, and own a legend. for money? for preservation? who knows. some gallery would have beat us to it. i know they would, the other piece was already being removed by some gallery who we know is going to make the quick buck. This was a guerrilla movement. an attempt in the night. much in an adverse way of Banksy hitting the wall himself. My accomplice hands bloodied and blistered. let it be known, to who ever took that piece… you didn’t deserve it. you didn’t work for it. but it should be documented. We are not an entity, we are not a gallery. We were two fans, trying to do the right thing before the hounds of a desolate city, hurting for money. Take what you will, i know we will catch a lot of heat for it. Rebels? Saviors? assholes? Dedicated fans? it depends on how you view it….
And you can see pictures of that piece on The Process Theory’s website. For now though, nobody really knows what’s happened to Diamond Girl.
On the other hand, the case of where I Remember (photo above) has gone is very public. On May 11th, Detroitfunk reported that the artwork had been removed by 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios. As expected when a Banksy is removed or defaced, there was a strong reaction from the public. Some people thought that 555 Arts were preserving the artwork, others that 555 Arts had essentially “stolen” Banksy’s art from the public trust, potentially in order to tell it for a massive profit. With no word from 555 Arts about the situation, the public was left waiting to hear what would happen. Finally, on May 15th, the Detroit Free Press picked up the story and fill in the missing details. It turns out that the folks from 555 Arts intend to not sell the work and to keep it on public display.
While I’m not sure that 555 Arts did the right thing by removing that wall, I think that in the long run future generations are going to be glad they did it. I’m not saying that every Banksy should be removed or protected, and I’m sure that most of the time these pieces are removed and protected purely so that the owners can profit from the artwork, but in the long run, it might be worth preserving a few of these outdoor pieces by Banksy.
Photo by bealebo
Looks like Banksy is continuing his North American tour.
These pieces just popped up in Toronto, Canada.
As seen first on the Show & Tell Gallery blog.
Sometimes the art world is full of good news and smart people. Not today.
Phillips de Pury’s May 13th and May 14th Contemporary Art auctions have a number of interesting paintings up for grabs, but here’s a few of the pieces that are more relevant to Vandalog.
Some of the most interesting work in these auction for me actually isn’t the work by street artists. There’s a lot great art by artists like Chris Johanson, so it’s worth flipping through the full catalog if you’re curious.
Last week, Now’s The Time opened at Black Rat Projects. It’s a group show with some of street art’s biggest names (Banksy, Swoon, Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey…). Here’s a video from the opening:
Now’s The Time @ Black Rat Press from Hotoneten on Vimeo.
The post a few days ago about Banksy’s new pieces in San Francisco was only half the story. Looks like there are now a total of 6 new supposed works by Banksy in the city. Here are the rest:
And from another angle, you can see that the above rat has written this:
Photos by Warholian (Warholian.com)
I think it’s fair to say that these three pieces that have just appeared in San Fransisco over the last few days are all by Banksy. Nothing confirmed yet on his website though. Two (the piece pictured above and the rat below) are above street level, and one is at street level. I think This’ll Look Nice When Its Framed is a great one. It continues Banksy’s commentary on the commercialization of his own artwork through canvases, screenprints and a film and it ties in nicely with the artwork that was removed from a street in LA last week. And the giant rat is just classic Banksy. Not so keen on this Peace + Love thing though.
Can anyone enlighten me on what’s being said here:
Maybe it’s referencing the song “Peace, Love and Understanding” and nothing’s really funny about it? Surely I’m missing something. After all, I thought Banksy’s Jeff Koons’ dog in LA wasn’t anything special until Tim McCool came along.
Photos by Troy Holden and dennis
There’s a few developments in the story of Banksy’s Jeff Koons dog stencil that was stolen in LA, so I thought I’d just throw it all together and link to the best reports of what’s going on.
