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Has Kate fallen out of fashion?
Terry Kirby25.02.09
KATE MOSS'S latest appearance as an artist's muse failed to attract buyers last night, but that didn't stop the model herself from enjoying another night on the town.
Along with guitarist boyfriend Jamie Hince, Ms Moss, who has denied rumours that she is expecting a baby, appeared to be enjoying herself at a celebrity-packed party staged by AnOther magazine.
A few hours earlier, a series of prints of Ms Moss - in the style of Andy Warhol's images of Marilyn Monroe - by anonymous graffiti artist Banksy failed to sell at auction at Bonhams.
Among 78 lots for sale, they were expected to fetch up to £150,000, but failed to find any bidders.
The six prints were produced in a limited run of 20 sets. Their value was increased because most were sold individually and complete sets are scarce.
Banksy's work has fetched hundreds of thousands of pounds at auctions in the past, with collectors including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera.
However, he may have fallen victim to market uncertainty caused by the economic downturn.
But Banksy is only the latest artist to find inspiration in Ms Moss. She has been painted in the nude by artist Lucian Freud - who was also at the magazine party last night - and sculptured in gold by Marc Quinn.
Her role in art will be celebrated in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York later this year which places the contribution of Moss and model contemporaries such as Naomi Campbell alongside great muses from art history, including Degas's ballet dancers. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs, who is curating the exhibition, has described Ms Moss as "a muse to a generation".
This week she dismissed rumours of a pregnancy and attributed some weight gain to taking vitamin pills.
The party at the Double Club in Islington attracted a number of art world names, including Freud and his fashion designer daughter Bella, model Lily Cole, taking a break from her art studies at Cambridge, art dealer Jay Jopling and Jaime Winstone, daughter of actor Ray Winstone.
Banksy made his name with stencil-like graffiti in high profile locations around east London, Brighton and Bristol and his work has since cropped up around the world.
His identity remains a subject of speculation, with many believing that he is actually a collective of artists. Last year he was named in one report as Robin Gunningham, a middle-class former public schoolboy from Bristol.
Also included in the auction were 11 works being sold on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Charity.
They were created as part of the Artists 11 project which was set up to highlight the fact one in 11 British men will contract this form of cancer.
