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Banksy gets a taste of his own spray paint
Rashid Razaq16 Mar 2009
Banksy has fallen foul of his fellow graffiti artists with his latest mural sprayed with paint and the words "love not money".
It used to be only the council which painted over his murals, branding them "vandalism" and "eyesores". Hackney had already started proceedings to have this mural removed.
But with collectors paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for his art, leaseholders in the building in Gillett Square, Dalston, were in the process of getting planning permission to protect it. Days later it was sprayed in blue.
The young boy in the mural is wearing a chain with a pendant of a gun and carrying a teddy bear in his right hand and a ghetto-blaster - neatly incorporating an air vent as the speaker - in his left.
But the appearance of new graffiti on the mural with the message "love not money", will come as a major blow to the organisation which owns the building - Hackney Co-operative Developments, which had been hoping to retain the Banksy.
Adam Hart, chairman of the co-operative, said: "Initially we were a bit dismayed when we saw the first addition - it didn't have any of the skill or wit you would associate with Banksy and was quite messy and unintelligible.
"But it's an ongoing situation and for now we are still definitely going ahead with planning permission and Hackney council are co-operating."
Reader views (7)
I think it's amazing that everyone's missing the point.
People are scrambling around to save the Banksy 'cause it's money, and some smart little monkey comes along who can see that bigger picture and states it.
I think it's strange to say the blue spray-painter has a low literacy level simply because he isn't a good artist, especially when he's been able to see in a Banksy what all you guys have missed: money.
- Deborah, St Albans, UK, 01/04/2010 23:37
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Is Banksy the only "artist" allowed to spray paint on public property?
- Be, Haringey,London, 17/03/2009 14:21
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The guy should try art in the Van Gogh sense of the word - remember him, the genius who never sold a painting in his lifetime, and one whom I'm sure would put Banksy (or whatever his name is) in his place.
- Ted, London, 17/03/2009 11:23
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Ah well,..........It was only a matter of time before this happened,.........Surprised it hadn't happened a long while ago!
GERONIMO
- Geronimo, LONDON MIDDLESEX, 16/03/2009 18:55
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Surely one mans ugly scrawl is another mans work of art, hence the question what is art?
- Reg, London, UK, 16/03/2009 15:22
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If you can't tell the difference between an unsolicited artwork and an ugly scrawl, heaven help you. Though the scrawl does at least demonstrate a degree of literacy, unlike most.
If the original had been subverted by an addition of similar quality, I'd be amused, and I'd hope so would Banksy!
- Nigel, London, 16/03/2009 11:48
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Why is it that when Banksy spray paints on other peoples property its art that must be preserved, yet when other people do its graffti and they are prosecuted criminal damage?
- Howard, London, UK, 16/03/2009 10:29
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