November 20, 2023

"[A] bank will cover the costs of restoring the mural. However... some in the art world feel... that Banksy’s murals should be allowed to decay naturally over time."

From "How Do You Restore a Banksy Mural? Venice Is Working on It. Also up for debate: whether they should restore it at all" (Inside Hook).

24 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

Banksy's masochism is well-known. He would approve of letting them decay naturally. Hell, he'd probably approve of someone destroying them, so long as they did it creatively and with style.

Enigma said...

The art community continues to beclown itself. A clever and thematically talented editorial cartoonist (Banksy) took to publishing via graffiti and became a celebrity. The dude created a (failed) self-destructive art product too!

Would he have been as successful in the artsy-fartsy crowd as the (also talented) Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes, and Dilbert cartoonists if he'd published on paper? Obviously no.

The idea of Banksy-style graffiti is far more important than the quality of many of his works. So, let the fad run its course. At least no mice were drowned alive, no animals were cut into slices and put in cabinets, and no balloon-animal legal team was required.

Kate said...

Everything in Venice is about restoration, about holding back the inevitable. In this place the expectations about Banksy's art should be different. The fight against decay is molto Veneziano.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is the debate to whether or not restore it a performance art in itself.

The mural came with extras.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

Yes, back in the day when art critics were better educated it was understood one of the qualities of graffiti art was it is ephemeral

…but perhaps that’s too harsh a critique of today’s educated economically driven art money grubbing pigs…er, critics.

rehajm said...

The shredder thing was cute….and profitable. Banksy likes to play with economics so that’s fun. I noticed the shredder didn’t shred the whole thing…

rehajm said...

In Boston traces of a Banksy on a wall near my home lasted a month or so. The Os Gemeos graffiti art on a wall down the street a ways has security cameras watching it all the time. When the art is shown in print they don’t show the security cameras.

Pathetic-O…

PM said...

My favorite, on a bldg across from City Lights in SF:
If at first you don't succeed - call an airstrike.

Howard said...

Most of the high end art world floats on tax dodging, forgeries or both. Banksy isn't in that game.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Is it up for debate, really? Because I would vote for not restoring it. Is a bank going to pay for reconstructing the shredded one too?

tim maguire said...

Most of Banksy’s work is traditional graffiti. However famous he may be, the work is made to be temporary. But if the owner of the property wants to preserve it, why shouldn’t they?

loudogblog said...

Take a photo of the mural and then let it decay naturally.

Tina Trent said...

I dunno, probably a three pack of medium quality brushes from Home Depot, acrylic paints from Hobby Lobby and a talented 12-year old.

Or, you could by one of those wall size Banksy posters they sell at Wal-Mart.

No, Seriously. Look it up.

Oligonicella said...

One of the scant few graffiti artists The rest are graphics designers.

Leland said...

Leave only footprints.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

"The fight against decay is molto Veneziano."

Nice phrasing Kate!

madAsHell said...

I have a much stronger connection to the Alka-Seltzer commercials of the early 60's!!

Eva Marie said...

The child looks like a nautical figurehead which would make the piece very much a political statement - intended or not.

boatbuilder said...

I made a really excellent snow sculpture once. Alas.

Did anyone go to great lengths to preserve Sabo's stuff?

Joe Smith said...

Very talented...

MayBee said...

In London, I lived around the corner from a tiny Banksy rat. The bar where it was had put some plexiglass over it. It all made me very happy.

mikee said...

I, for one, look forward to the day that the janitor with a cleaning rag and some solvent is celebrated for letting us all avoid this problem before we even learn it exists.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Bank repairing a Banksy. Rich.