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Subscribe to RSSThe elusive British street artist Banksy arranged for a small collection of his work to be sold amid Central Park vendors on a New York City street. Passersby unknowingly purchased the Banksy originals for bargain prices, some even haggling down to $60 for a work of art worth thousands.
Banksy made a monkey out of me.
On Saturday afternoon, I was taking two out-of-town friends on a tour of Central Park, giving them the insider's view of the city.
One pal idly mentioned that she was hoping to buy a bag — one of the designer knockoffs hawked on every Midtown corner.
Moments later, we happened to pass a table filled with white canvases covered in stenciled spray-paint images, near one of those ubiquitous "your-name-in-calligraphy" artists.
"Look at this guy," I said with a note of derision. "Knocking off Banksy."
Banksy, of course, is the world-famous street artist whose original works have sold for more than a million bucks and who is in the middle of a month-long "residency" in New York.
Every day, he completes a new work in the city and posts it on his website. There's been a slaughterhouse truck filled with stuffed animals, a delivery truck housing a trompe l'oeil paradise and a bunch of graffiti that's been instantly defaced.
I've been following his travels through the boroughs. Five years ago, I attended his installation in Greenwich Village. Plus, I studied art history in college.
So, I know a fake Banksy when I see one — I thought.
As counterfeits go, these were pretty good, I had to admit. I noticed there were quite a few pieces with a monkey motif, and my boyfriend really likes monkeys.
But as a street-smart New Yorker, I wasn't about to give my hard-earned cash — they were $60 each — to some con artist trying to capitalize on real art.
On we walked, out of the park and past the Museum of Modern Art, where Banksy once surreptitiously hung his own painting of a can of cream-of-tomato soup.
That guy — such a joker.
This time, however, the joke was on me and countless other New Yorkers and tourists who marched past the unassuming table with the sign "Spray Art."
Because, as I found out when I got to work on Monday and read a story about Banksy's weekend exploits, every single canvas on that table was the genuine article — and signed, to boot.
A video on his website revealed it took hours to make a sale. A woman bought two for her kids, after negotiating a 50% discount. A tourist bought two, and a man from Chicago bought four to decorate the blank walls of his new house.
Each one is worth at least five figures, if past sales are any indication. The bragging rights? Priceless.
All day, I've been replaying my brush with Banksy through my head, trying to figure out if I missed any tip-offs that a pot of art-world gold was right under my nose.
Nope.
Although, now that I think about it, one of those monkeys I was looking at for my boyfriend was wearing a signboard.
The message: "Keep it real."
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What do they say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". I guess no one thought they were that good without all the bells and whistles that accompany the man's work.
The reality here is the only reason that Bansky's stuff sells for the ridiculous prices it does is because some pompous, self important art experts convinced a bunch of people with more money than brains that it is good art. It has gotten to the point where whether something is considered good art or not has nothing to do with the quality or beauty of the work. It is determined by some "art experts" who decide what is good and what is not based on their own pompous opinions and then those with a lot of money and no taste get suckered into spending a fortune for something that most people would not even have in their homes. I can remember not long ago when they suckered a bunch of these so-called experts and had several of them touting a five year old's finger paintings as being some great art works and they were prattling on about all of the imagery that they saw in the works. They has egg on their faces when it was revealed to them that the "art works" were finger paintings done by the interviewer's child the day before. These people who spend a fortune on some piece of art because some pretentious art consultant they hired tells them it is great art need to have their heads examined. Why is Banksy's defacement of buildings considered valuable art where other works that are just as esthetically pleasing (or not depending on your individual opinion) are viewed as worthless criminal defacement of property?!?! It is because a bunch of self appointed "art experts" have decided to promote Banksy as a great artist. It makes you wonder of there is not some under the table financial deal between these "experts" and the artists they tout!! Buy what you like and screw the experts!
Bansky is actually pretty great.
@really?
Or...art is defined by its context. You value a former girlfriend because she has a place in your memory. You value your childhood home because of the experiences that took place there. Maybe Banksy becomes art to most people who know it's the real thing...because they've learned that there is meaningful history behind the work.
A block of our "inverted Jenny" stamps sold for $2.7 million. Great art, right?
What fools these mortals be.
Well Dan, that's pretty much my point as well. Will anyone really care about this guy's art more than any other street art in 100 years. Seems this author does a good job of illustrating it. It's more about the monetary value than anything else.
Most of Bansky will be gone in 100 years because it's street art.
I love Bansky's stuff regardless of what people who have more money than god decide they want to collect.
Why do you value the classics? It's because someone paid for it back then, and kept it until now.
Collectors and collections don't define art. Art is art.
Head slap!!
Point is this round you got the Banksy only if you liked a particular piece enough to shell out $60 on the spot and didn't prioritize whether it was a knockoff; or if you have, like gallery owners claim to have, that 6th sense about it. Art investors will suffer for a long time over this prank. Clever, clever boy.
It is funny to watch non-participants validate their scorn by claiming it will be worthless in 100 years anyway. 1. You won't be alive in 100 years to find out. 2. You don't know what will make the art history cut. 3. Ha, ha, Suckers! You didn't buy one!
Funny, but it reminds me of the Beannie Baby craze some years ago . . . designer Beannie Babies like the Princess Di (she was still living) were going for £200 or more owing to 'collectible' hype. You can't give them away today. Of course, the same was said of Jackson Pollock. Same thing happened with POGs.
Non-participants myrth?. No more than you. I'm not saying it doesn't have artistic value, I just have a problem with thinking it far superior to what I see go by on the railroad tracks everyday.. I'm saying that without the hype would it really stand on it's own as being something different? The author didn't even realize they were the real deal. She had gone to the village installation, had taken art history in college. Yet the only consideration in the end was that they were knockoffs and not worth 60 USD. The author made my point for me.
Author's guest wanted a knockoff bag. Author isn't so high above the fray. She didn't make guest get a hotel room for even suggesting a knockoff bag. I like the author's getting it that the joke was on her.
Banksy surfaced up from a world of grafitti competition.
Of course, to echo the 'eye of the beholder' argument, any painting is only 'worth' the amount of paint that is on the canvas and the time it took an artist to paint it, whether we are talking Banksy, Van Gogh, da Vinci, etc. Above that, it is the subjective opinion of whomever may want to purchase art as to what premium should be paid for a painting, sculpture, etc. Likewise, we - as human beings - have a 'value' of a small amount of money for the minerals in our bodies, but that is not how we value our lives, our bodies, etc. Art is very subjective and what I may decide to pay large amounts for may be what the next person wouldn't pay a plug nickel to own.
I agree. If you like a piece, you are going to buy it if you can afford it. If you are buying a piece just for it's value or future value, you might as well keep it in the closet. Art is to be viewed, and as long as I like a piece I will put it on my walls whether anyone else likes it or not, or whether it has value or not.
However, this was an interesting experiment.
"Banksy, of course, is the world-famous street artist whose original works have sold for more than a million bucks and who is in the middle of a month-long "residency" in New York."
One wonders about the logic behind who's art is lauded in the past half century. Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can is worth millions, but when I ask artists why the person who designed the Campbell's Soup Can isn't acclaimed and why Andy Warhol isn't considered a faker who copied someone else's art, the only intelligent response I've received is, "Hmm, that's something to think about."
I prefer the impressionistic art you can get on weekends in the square at Cannes, France, etc.
Haaaaaaaa. Manhattan sophistication. Haaaaaaaaaa. The City. Haaaaaaaaaaaa. LMAO from rural hayseed Indiana. Haaaaaaaaaa. City slickers. Haaaaaaa
Emily Christensen-Flowers, you are a fool and still haven't learned your lesson: you can't see the art past the dollar signs in your eyes.
I'd never heard of Banksy (Eastern Washington State redneck) - and after watching the video and doing some research, I think the work is beyond reproach. I am enthralled by the typical New Yorker's ignorance to "great art" unless they're told that's what it is - this stuff by Banksy is so damned neat that I'm wanting to spin the clock back in time, fly to New York, and pick up a few of those paintings at such an affordable price so I can decorate my spartan walls!! What a slick, slick artist ...
You can reach me at spiffy'at'outlook'dot'com
Emperors new clothes. Everyone wants to be relevant. To be of some import. And to be right. Whatever the topic. If enough collectively agree then we elevate that Individual whether right or wrong. Case in point our president. Now can we admit we were wrong? Does any of it matter in today's society? We all live in blips of our own clique's of beliefs. Arguing over the most nonsensical things when we should all get on with life. Too attached to what is going on and totally missing the moment. Trying to create history but doomed to repeat the past. We never learn from anyone's mistakes until it is too late. Give the man his credit and due because he still has all of you.
My first inclination was to say "What's a Banksy. Is that anything like a Henway?"
My first inclination was to ask "What's a Banksy? Is that anything like a Henway?"
I wonder if this is what Banksy intended? Maybe a subversive way to point out a flaw in the 'New York' mindset?
No need for embarrassment Christensen-Flowers (financial regret given our present society--more on that in a moment--but certainly no reason to feel "dumb," just human).
Plenty of psychological studies on this. No one needs to kick themselves except on missing the real punchline here. Material value is largely a vast illusion of environmental psychology. The same pictures, the same "beauty" or lack thereof vary in value by a factor of over 500 based upon society's perceptions.
Now what if great leaders, entrepreneurs -- doers of all kinds, did their doings not to make the big bucks that puts up $30,000 valued paintings over the mantle piece. Rather they did so for priceless certifications of undying appreciation and affection from a public that has been truly helped by their greatness in mutual responsibility.
Now there is real value that the society can stand up for -- whether in the great galleries or on the street curbs of NY!
No need for embarrassment Christensen-Flowers (financial regret given our present society--more on that in a moment--but certainly no reason to feel "dumb," just human).
Plenty of psychological studies on this. No one needs to kick themselves except on missing the real punchline here. Material value is largely a vast illusion of environmental psychology. The same pictures, the same "beauty" or lack thereof vary in value by a factor of over 500 based upon society's perceptions.
Now what if great leaders, entrepreneurs -- doers of all kinds, did their doings not to make the big bucks that puts up $30,000 valued paintings over the mantle piece. Rather they did so for priceless certifications of undying appreciation and affection from a public that has been truly helped by their greatness in mutual responsibility.
Now there is real value that the society can stand up for -- whether in the great galleries or on the street curbs of NY!
Love it. My buddies and I had the debate yesterday on what we would do if we saw the art on the street.
Don't feel bad. We'd all have done the same thing.