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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on May 11, 2013 at 9:11

In a response to this news Haringey Councillor for Noel Park Ward, Alan Strickland, commented via Twitter that it was: "unbelievable that art freely enjoyed by the public for so long can now only be seen for a £50 ticket!"

He has criticised Sincura for selling the artwork, and called on people to e-mail the organisers of the sale demanding the return of the Wood Green Banksy.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Corcoran on May 11, 2013 at 13:28

What I find really unbelievable is that there is so much fuss, and so much money, circling around what, in the final analysis is nothing more than a simple posterised stencil.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Duffy on May 11, 2013 at 14:06

Yes - that's all it is.   Same as picasso's simple drawing of a dove or a nazi swastika.  When you look at them all you see is a white squiggle or a sort of square thing - isn't it?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Corcoran on May 11, 2013 at 14:21

Now, everybody's an artist EXCEPT people who can actually competently draw, paint, or sculpt.

What I see is a crudely-executed satirical cartoon, the conceptual content of which I happen to agree with - but the idea that this should be worth £0.7M is beyond ludicrous.

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on May 11, 2013 at 14:31

I have to agree with Kathleen - whilst the work itself may be simple and replicable it is what it represents that is important.

Firstly as a piece of site-specific public art placed on the wall of Poundland by the artist.

But also in terms of its message or comment, since the last failed auction, over 1,000 Dhaka textile workers have died in unsafe conditions whilst creating cheap clothes for sale all along Wood Green High street. To sell this piece at a "celeb and vip"champagne auction for private profit is scandalous.

The price gained at auction should not be a measure of the work - and none of it will be going to the artist.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Corcoran on May 11, 2013 at 14:57

and none of it will be going to the artist.

Actually, that's not quite true, as although Banksy would not get anything from this sale, the secondary-market prices achieved at auction do help set primary-market prices for a living artist.

But also in terms of its message or comment, since the last failed auction, over 1,000 Dhaka textile workers have died in unsafe conditions whilst creating cheap clothes for sale all along Wood Green High street.

By that criterion, Steve Bell's daily cartoons in the Guardian should all be selling for millions, as he comments in a no-holds-barred manner on the many injustices of our corruptly-run society.

To sell this piece at a "celeb and vip"champagne auction for private profit is scandalous.

Agreed.

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Permalink Reply by Melanie Corfield on May 11, 2013 at 18:07

Supply and demand!  Mind you, no-one has paid that price yet. It is a shame and an irony.

 

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on May 12, 2013 at 22:48

The saga continues with more twists and turns:

A statement by the organisers of the London auction, the Sincura Group, makes it clear that the Banksy Work "Slave Labour" will not be sold at the London auction and art show event - it will be available to view at the Covent Garden Flower Cellars as the "centerpiece" of the £50 per head celeb and vip event.

Tony Baxter head of the secretive "fixers" organisation Sincura has stated in a hastily produced statement, rushed out on a weekend evening, that his organisation has offered Londoners a chance to see the work "again its home city before it disappears forever" ...omitting of course that residents of Haringey and local visitors had the chance to view it for free on the streets of Wood Green before it was unceremoniously chopped from the wall of Poundland.

Unlike every other piece in this, or any of the other art shows they organise, Mr Baxter of Sincura feels the need to point out in his statement that neither Scotland Yard nor the FBI have identified this as stolen.

It appears that the likely final destination of the public artwork created in Wood Green will be a private collector in the USA.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Berthoud on May 13, 2013 at 9:54

I like the way they try to push the wrongdoing back on to the artist, calling it an "illegally painted mural"

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Permalink Reply by Melanie Corfield on May 13, 2013 at 20:44

What a weird statement from Sincura!  I guess the work is already in the hands of a private collector then? 

Whatever, it's such an insult to the intelligence that Sincura would think a statement like this would make everyone think: "Oh, so that's alright then."

They don't condone the way this art came to be.....but on the other hand there's money to be made. Can't have it both ways?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Corcoran on June 2, 2013 at 12:02

and again.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22741911

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on June 6, 2013 at 10:35

Just in case anyone missed the depressing conclusion to this story the Banksy artwork was sold to a "Mystery private buyer" for thee quarters of a million pounds at an exclusive champagne reception last week - The Huffington Post carries the full story - including this instructive exchange from the owners of the Poundland Building:

The freeholder of the building where the piece was painted is Wood Green Investments, a property firm owned by Essex-based businessmen Robert Davies, 60, and Leslie Gilbert, 49.

Speaking to The Sunday Times(£), the pair refused to confirm or deny whether they were involved in removing the work or even whether they owned the building.

“We’re businessmen, so our primary concern is making money, and I can’t see the benefit for us of setting the record straight about this at the moment,” said Gilbert.

Ars gratia artis?

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