Category Archives: Banksy

Thieves stole Banksy Bataclan door mural with crowbar, French court told

Posted on by

Seven Frenchmen and Italian on trial for theft of work thought to be a tribute to victims of Paris attacks

Thieves who stole a mural by the street artist Banksy on an emergency exit door of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris used a crowbar and angle grinder to prise it free, in a crime that lasted just minutes, a French court heard.

The work depicting a veiled and mournful figure is thought to have been a tribute to victims of the Islamist militant attacks against the Bataclan and other entertainment venues in Paris in 2015.

Continue reading...

Port Talbot says bye-bye to its Banksy as art dealer brings in a crane

Posted on by

Much loved work that appeared in 2018 on a steelworker’s garage heads to England on the back of a lorry

It appeared one winter’s night on a steelworker’s garage, a wondrous piece of street art making points about the innocence of childhood, industrial decay and air pollution.

After a three-year sojourn in the town of Port Talbot, Season’s Greetings, Wales’ first and only Banksy, was craned on to the back of a flatbed lorry and trucked out of the country.

Continue reading...

Banksy designs T-shirts to raise funds for ‘Colston Four’ accused of Bristol statue damage

Posted on by

Anonymous artist says sales proceeds will go to the four people accused of Edward Colston statue damage ‘so they can go for a pint’

Banksy says he has made T-shirts that he will be selling to support four people facing trial accused of criminal damage over the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

The anonymous artist posted on Instagram pictures of limited-edition grey souvenir T-shirts, which will go on sale on Saturday in Bristol.

Continue reading...

Banksy offers to raise £10m to buy Reading prison for art centre

Posted on by

Artist would sell stencil used to paint mural depicting what was thought to be Oscar Wilde on listed building

Banksy has offered to raise millions of pounds towards buying Reading prison, where Oscar Wilde was once held, so that it can be turned into an arts centre.

The street artist has promised to match the jail’s £10m asking price by selling the stencil he used to paint on the Grade II-listed building in March, a move campaigners hope will prevent it from being sold to housing developers.

Continue reading...

Banksy artwork deliberately destroyed by Christopher Walken in BBC comedy show finale

Posted on by

Hollywood actor paints over original work, which was created for Stephen Merchant’s TV series The Outlaws

A piece of art created by Banksy was painted over by Hollywood actor Christopher Walken in the final episode of BBC series The Outlaws.

The six-part comedy-drama, which Stephen Merchant co-created with US writer and producer Elgin James, and also directed, follows a group of misfits renovating a derelict community centre in Bristol, as part of community service for crimes they have committed.

Continue reading...

Banksy confirms he is behind British seaside ‘spraycation’ artworks

Posted on by

Anonymous artist posts Instagram video charting his coastal tour in an ageing camper van

Banksy has confirmed that he is indeed the author of a number of works that have appeared recently in seaside towns on the UK east coast.

An Instagram video clip, just over three minutes long called “A Great British Spraycation”, shows the elusive artist taking a summer road trip in a beaten-up camper van with cans of spray paint stashed inside a cooler.

Continue reading...

Banksy’s NHS Covid superhero nurse gift sold for record £16.7m

Posted on by

‘Game Changer’ was a work the artist made as a thank you to England’s health workers amid the pandemic

A Banksy painting of a young boy ditching his Batman and Spider-Man action figures for one of a caped superhero nurse has sold for a world record price of £16.7m, the money going to UK health charities.

The artist made the work as a thank you to the NHS, delivering it out of the blue to Southampton general hospital last May.

Continue reading...

Amsterdam gallery owner recalls how sale of Banksy work saved staff jobs

Posted on by

Kim Logchies-Prins tells how employees gathered around canvas, sold for £1.5m, to give thanks

The owner of an art museum in Amsterdam who sold a prized Banksy painting for £1.5m to avoid laying off staff during the coronavirus pandemic has told how her employees gathered around the canvas to give thanks.

Kim Logchies-Prins, co-founder with her husband, Lionel, of the Moco museum of modern, contemporary and street art, said she joined 20 of the office staff to pay respects and say goodbye to Banksy’s Monkey Poison, following its sale to an anonymous US buyer at an auction in New York.

Continue reading...

Banksy confirms he created ‘Aachoo!!’ artwork in Bristol

Posted on by

Stencil mural unveiled on side of house shows woman sneezing out her false teeth

Banksy has confirmed he is behind an artwork showing an older woman sneezing out her false teeth which has appeared on a house in Bristol.

The stencil mural entitled “Aachoo!!”, on the side of a semidetached house in Totterdown, had been covered up before its unveiling on Thursday morning.

Continue reading...

Bike disappearance mars Banksy artwork in Nottingham

Posted on by

City angered by apparent theft of bike chained to post near stencil of hula-hooping girl

A bicycle with a missing wheel accompanying a Banksy mural in Nottingham has vanished, prompting sadness and frustration in the city.

The artwork depicts a girl appearing to hula hoop with a tyre from the bike, which was chained to a nearby pole outside a beauty salon.

Continue reading...

Banksy’s Show me the Monet painting sells for £7.5m at auction

Posted on by

Reimagining of Claude Monet’s Impressionist water lilies easily surpassed expectations at Sotheby’s event

Banksy’s reimagining of Claude Monet’s impressionist water lilies has fetched more than £7.5m at auction, easily surpassing expectations.

Show Me The Monet was created in 2005 and adds abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone to the famous garden scene.

Continue reading...

Banksy’s Monet tribute to go on sale for up to £5m

Posted on by

Tribute that adds abandoned shopping trollies to the impressionist image of water lilies to be sold at Sotheby’s auction

Street artist Banksy’s version of Claude Monet’s impressionist masterpiece will go on sale at Sotheby’s London gallery for an estimated £3-5m.

The painting, called Show me the Monet, was created in 2005. It is framed around Monet’s famous water lilies picture but is filled with jarring images of upside-down shopping trolleys and a traffic cone bobbing in the water.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of people evacuated from Banksy-funded rescue ship after overcrowding – video

Posted on by

German charity Sea-Watch and the Italian coastguard sent vessels to a rescue boat funded by the British street artist after it issued urgent calls for assistance, saying it was stranded in the Mediterranean and overloaded with people.

Hundreds of people on board the MV Louise Michel were transferred to safety on to the Sea-Watch 4, while an Italian coastguard patrol boat took 49 of those considered most vulnerable on board, transferring them to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa

Continue reading...

UN refugee agency calls on EU nations to let in migrants rescued in Mediterranean

Posted on by

UNHCR and IOM say 200 rescued people urgently need to get off Banksy-funded ship

The UN refugee agency urged European nations on Saturday to let in hundreds of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean by humanitarian boats, including one financed by the British street artist Banksy.

The UNHCR and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) said more than 200 rescued refugees and migrants needed immediately to get off the nonprofit search-and-rescue ship Louise Michel, saying it was far beyond its safe capacity.

Continue reading...

Banksy-funded boat nears ‘state of emergency’ as it shelters 200 people

Posted on by

Crew of Louise Michel, who rescued 89 migrants on Thursday, say European authorities ignoring them

A rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy is close to declaring a “state of emergency” after the crew helped 130 migrants and are now safeguarding over 200 people off Libya’s coast, while the European authorities ignore their request for help.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean, where, on Thursday, it rescued 89 people including 14 women and four children.

Continue reading...

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

Posted on by

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.

Continue reading...

Palestinians stage surprise ‘thank you’ event for Banksy in Bethlehem

Posted on by

Photographs of works go on display in Manger Square to celebrate British street artist’s contribution to diversifying tourism

Photographs of 20 pieces of Banksy’s artwork in Palestine have been displayed in the centre of Bethlehem as a thank you to the anonymous British street artist for helping diversify tourism in the city.

The images were collated by Palestinian photographers for the surprise exhibition in Manger Square.

Continue reading...

Banksy altered sea view triptych sells for £2.2m at auction

Posted on by

Romantic seascapes – with political message in washed up life jackets – raise funds for Bethlehem hospital

A Banksy triptych, which aims to make a powerful political statement on the global migrant crisis, sold for £2.2m at an auction in London that also featured works by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Bridget Riley.

The three paintings were offered by Banksy to raise money for a hospital in Bethlehem.

Continue reading...

Banksy reveals pest problem in new lockdown artwork

Posted on by

Artist posted five images on Instagram, saying ‘my wife hates it when I work from home’

Banksy has revealed his latest artwork created while in lockdown - a series of rats causing mayhem in his bathroom.

The elusive anonymous artist, who usually works in the street, posted a set of five images on his Instagram on Wednesday night, with the caption: “My wife hates it when I work from home.”

Continue reading...

Banksy artwork in Bristol is vandalised days after appearing

Posted on by

Piece, which appears to be a nod to Valentine’s Day, has graffiti scrawled across it

A piece of street art in Bristol that was this week confirmed as being by Banksy has been vandalised.

A picture shared on social media showed “BCC wankers” scrawled across the artwork, which shows a young girl firing a slingshot filled with flowers.

Continue reading...