The unidentified English graffiti artist who goes by the name Banksy sold his artwork – which regularly goes for six figures – in New York’s Central Park for $60 each over the weekend. Not many bought.
Banksy, who is visiting New York for a month and already has artwork popping up around the city, wrote about the stall and
posted a videotape of the Saturday event on his website, noting that the stall would not be there on Sunday.
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In the video, Banksy shows an older man working at the stall and being pretty bored all day because there were no sales until 3:30 p.m. On the video, it says, “3:30 PM – First Sale A lady buys two small canvases for her children. But only after negotiating a 50% discount.”
At 4:00 p.m., a woman from New Zealand bought two. At 5:30 p.m., a man who is redecorating his apartment bought four, saying, “I just need something for the walls.”
At 6:00 p.m., the stall closes and the film says, “Total takings for the day ... $420.”
Fans took to the Internet, lamenting that they missed the sale.
Banksy’s works that are often anti-war or make other political statements about government and capitalism have appeared in England, becoming tourist destinations and selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. (One sold for $576,000.) He also created graffiti in Israel and has had shows in the United States. He is also a filmmaker, and his film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
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