Showing posts with label Street Art. Show all posts

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Banksy's 'Love is in the Bin' : Art vs. commercialization

Gallery employees pose with Love is in the Bin by Banksy, photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Banksy's 'Love is in the Bin': art vs. commercialization

Exploring the impact and meaning behind Banksy's most controversial artwork

Orsolya Antoni
12 January 2025

Banksy is my favourite street artist because of his unique way of addressing everyday life and conflicts. When I was working for a very well-known auction house, I had the opportunity to see some of his work, especially 'Girl with Balloon,' which was shredded at the auction and renamed to 'Love is in the Bin.' This incident, where the artwork self-destructed after being sold, was a bold and intriguing statement by Banksy. It was a direct challenge to the commercialization of art, a practice that often places more value on the price tag than the artistic message and the value we place on it. This incident not only made headlines but also sparked a global conversation about the true value of art and the role of the art market in determining it. The shredded 'Girl with Balloon' became a new piece of art, 'Love is in the Bin,' which further emphasized Banksy's critique of the art market's focus on monetary value over artistic expression.

Banksy creates mask-themed work on London Underground

Banksy’s artistic additions to the train include rats struggling with hand sanitiser. Photograph: Banksy

Banksy creates mask-themed work on London Underground

Coronavirus-inspired stencils on tube train feature rats with surgical face masks and hand sanitiser

Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent

Thue 14 July 2020

Banksy se hace pasar por un ‘desinfectador’ y pinta sus ratas en el metro de Londres

Banksy has entered the mask debate with his latest typically playful work: a series of stencils on the London Underground that feature his trademark rats struggling to come to terms with surgical masks.

In a video posted on his Instagram page, the street artist is seen entering an underground train carriage while dressed as a member of the cleanup crew before stencilling the rats, which are depicted as using the masks as parachutes and dispensing hand sanitiser.

He is on a train approaching Baker Street and is shown editing the video with the title “London Underground – undergoes deep clean”.

Banksy paints a rat sneezing, while another struggles to get a mask on and at the end of the clip he sprays the words “I get lockdown, but I get up again”, riffing on Chumbawamba’s 1997 hit Tubthumping, which plays in the background.Transport for London confirmed on Tuesday evening that the work was removed “some days ago” due to strict anti-graffiti policy, but that it would welcome Banksy to recreate his message “in a suitable location”.

The work comes as the government has chopped and changed its approach to making face coverings compulsory in shops. On Friday, Boris Johnson wore a mask in public and discussed the possibility of them becoming compulsory, before Michael Gove denied this was the plan on Sunday.

But 48 hours later Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, confirmed in a Commons statement that shoppers would be required to wear face coverings in England with legislation coming into force on Friday 24 July.

Transport for London confirmed on Tuesday evening that the work was removed “some days ago” due to strict anti-graffiti policy, but that it would welcome Banksy to recreate his message “in a suitable location”.

Face coverings became a requirement on public transport in England on 15 June.

Captioned “If you don’t mask - you don’t get”, the Banksy video is the first new post by the artist since early June when he responded to the statue of Edward Colston being removed and thrown into the harbour in his home town of Bristol.

“What should we do with the empty plinth in the middle of Bristol?” he asked, before offering a solution. “We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protesters in the act of pulling him down. Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated.”

In April, Banksy released artwork created during lockdown with a series of rats causing mayhem in his bathroom, which was posted on Instagram and captioned “My wife hates it when I work from home”.

Before that he created a piece in Bristol, which was later vandalised. The words “BCC wankers” was scrawled across the artwork, which was created in February and featured a girl firing a catapult filled with flowers.

THE GUARDIAN

Friday, March 20, 2020

Street art in Germany

By Keith Jenkins

street-art-leipzig-berlin-wall-photo — A mural in Leipzig.

I’m a big fan of street art. Not the ugly, meaningless signature-like graffiti that can be found in many cities around the world, but rather, the striking or thought-provoking pieces which stop people in their tracks. I always make it a point to check out the local street art wherever I travel, and this has led me to incredible pieces in places such as Valparaiso (Chile), George Town (Malaysia), Reunion Island and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). One country, though, that continues to impress me with its amazing street art is Germany. Street art in Germany often incorporates sociopolitical messages in colourful works of art which can be found in many cities. An attraction in themselves, they’re always a joy to look at.

Best cities for street art in Germany

As an introduction to street art in Germany, check out this cool video produced by my friends at Story Travelers featuring street art in nine German cities.

Say it with Banksy? Valentine’s gift catapults house to street art fame

Banksy, the elusive street artist from Bristol, is believed to be behind the artwork on the side of a house in the city’s Barton Hill district. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Say it with Banksy? Valentine’s gift catapults house to street art fame

Artwork depicting girl firing bunch of flowers appears in street artist’s home city

Steven Morris and Ben Fisher
Thu 13 February 2020

A beguiling piece of street art depicting a girl firing a bunch of flowers into the air using a catapult has appeared on the side of a house in Bristol, the home city of Banksy.

The artist has not confirmed the work as his but it caused crowds to gather and prompted the owner of the building to worry about how to protect what may turn out to be a valuable work.

Residents in the Barton Hill area of the city awoke on Thursday to find the piece, which was taken by many to be a nod to Valentine’s Day.

Bristol Somali Community Association tweeted: “Today in Barton Hill, we woke up with this remarkable mural art painted on one of the houses of the area.

“We hope it’s Banksy’s work. Come and have a look yourself. Whoever painted, it’s worth admiring their creativity. Thank you.”

The Banksy expert John Brandler said he believed the piece may well be by the elusive artist.

“I would say it’s a Banksy,” he said. Brandler added that the piece had the sparsity and simplicity of the best Banksys. “I think it’s lovely.”

Banksy often confirms his artworks by posting images of them on Instagram or his website but there is sometimes a lag between a work appearing and his endorsement.

Kelly Woodruff, who co-owns the property on the corner of Marsh Lane and Avonvale Road, said: “It arrived on our wall overnight. I got tagged into Facebook with someone saying, is this your property?

“And we were like, ‘woah it is’. We are super excited, obviously, and it’s my dad’s birthday today so we are very excited to have such a brilliant birthday gift. We are Bristol born and bred, and it’s just so exciting.”

The house is split into three flats, and Woodruff and her father Edwin, 67, are working out how to protect it.

She said: “We really want to preserve it, but he’s given us a bit of a headache. First thing’s first is to maybe get some Perspex to preserve it so everyone can enjoy it and then try to get some professional advice. It has been a crazy day, with lots of people being able to come and enjoy it and we want people to be able to continue doing that.

“I just kept like squealing and I’ve not stopped smiling all day. It’s just so special. They are calling it the Valentine’s Day Banksy.

“There isn’t a handbook for these kind of scenarios - we’ve never been in this situation so any advice is welcome.”

THE GUARDIAN