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Banksy's? Don't bank on it
Robert Mendick, Evening Standard26.09.08
The graffiti artist Banksy has revealed that millions of pounds worth of works attributed to him are fakes.
His admission comes ahead of a London auction of street art said to be by the artist but which he is refusing to authenticate. Five pieces are being sold for a guide price of more than £250,000.
In a statement issued through his publicist, Banksy urged buyers to boycott tomorrow's auction.
He said: "Graffiti art has a hard enough life as it is - with council workers wanting to remove it and kids wanting to draw moustaches on it, before you add hedgefund managers wanting to chop it out and hang it over the fireplace.
"For the sake of keeping all street art where it belongs I'd encourage people not to buy anything by anybody unless it was created for sale in the first place."
A body set up by the artist to verify his work has identified 226 falsely attributed pieces in eight months.
With his street art alone typically fetching £50,000 a piece, it raises the spectre of a fake Banksy industry worth millions.
The record price for one of his works was £288,000 at auction last year.
In a little noticed statement, Pest Control, the verification body, warns on its website: "[Banksy] would encourage anyone wanting to purchase one of his images to do so with extreme caution, but does point out that many copies are superior in quality to the originals.
"Since the creation of Pest Control in January 2008 we have identified 89 street pieces and 137 screen prints falsely attributed to the artist."
The statement adds: "Banksy has a casual attitude to copyright and encourages the reproduction of his work for your own personal amusement, so it's with regret that he finds himself having to deem pieces either 'real' or 'fake'."
Banksy paints in secret, making independent identification of his art more difficult, while Pest Control refuses to authenticate any street work which he believes should be left "in situ".
Lyon & Turnbull will auction 20 works tomorrow at a deconsecrated church in Marylebone Road.
Among the five lots Banksy is refusing to authenticate are the Refuse Rat, expected to fetch £20,000, and Fungle Junk (estimate: £150,000) consisting of three panels painted on to the side of a trailer at the Lizard festival in Cornwall in 1999.
The auctioneers have turned, for the first time, to a rival authenticating body, Vermin, which is providing a "free and independent authentication and certification service, dedicated to cataloguing Banksy's street works".
Each piece will come with a Vermin certificate, judged by a panel of experts drawn from contemporary art dealers. Banksy has refused to approve their role.
Ben Hanly, head of contemporary art at Lyon & Turnbull, said: "We are sure these street works are authentic.
"It would be absolute madness for us to sell anything we don't believe is genuine. But whether the market agrees with us, we shall see."
Reader views (7)
That Truck WAS painted by Banksy, I got a lift to the lizard festival with a girl in another truck painted by him the prievouse year-she was towing Banksy's festival caravan down there-both trucks were parked next to a scateboard half pipe in the middle of the festival.
The way I remember it was that Banksy got free tickets for himself,girlfriend and girl with the truck that was towing him, and possibly payment as well.
I can understand him not wanting to authenicate peices off the street, but when it's a peice like this one that has definate ownership and off the road not being viewed at all any more-I can't see his problem.
- Nick Pugh, worcester u.k
I think you'll find there's a healthy urban and graffiti art scene in France - two of the best known being Blek le Rat and Jef Aerosol who both work with stencils in much the same way as BANKSY.
- Guy Denning, N E France
The story behind the work by Banksy known as Fungle Junk can be found in Banksy's Bristol HOME SWEET HOME by Steve Wright
pages 71-73. Published by Tangent Books of Bristol.
- William Burroughs, Diss, Norfolk
Funny as Banksy also said :
Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.
From his own book 'Brandalism'
- Dr. Kho, Uk
Is middle-class Banksy refusing to authenticate some of the items because he truly didn't create them, or simply because he doesn't want them to be sold?
- Yvonne, Doncaster, UK
The work by Banksy known as Fungle Junk is a special case within the discussion of , "What distinguishes street art from the later 'limited editions' produced by the artist ".
From a trailer that Banksy used as a canvas on at least three occasions, permission was given when he had no platform to create at events important to his early development in 1998 at Glastonbury, at the Lizard Festival in 1999 and again at Glastonbury in 2000. The owners of the trailer Nathen Wellard and Emma Neale admired his work then and still do and without a second thought on each of these occasions generously parked their trailer where Banksy needed to perform. These works were created live in front of festival-goers and represent the only known early performance art by the artist.
- William Burroughs, Diss, Norfolk
Hysterical! Regretfully we don't have many Banksy impersonators in this part of the world ......
- Marianne, S W France
