[John]

Just walked past this on my way to work.. someone has cut out the word "banksy".

[Macdeee]

There goes another one
Look out for it on ebay.

[saltandiron]

Um, yeah, I know, I'll go and steal a Banksy from the street but only take half of it, that way not only do I deprive other people of the joy of seeing it, I can't even enjoy it properly cos I only took half of it.

what a f**ktard.

right, I'm going to Tate modern with a knife, there's one corner of a Rothko I've had my eye on for a while.....

[saltandiron]

he's a pic of it before...
www.artofthestate.co.uk/banksy/Banksy_0800_Banksy.htm

[John]

Theres actually loads of workmen / road works going on.. they may just be dismantaling the bridge.. so maybe it will end up in a gallery or something.. but it was a bit weird how they had just removed the "banksy" bit.

Ah well..

[saltandiron]

johnb said:

Theres actually loads of workmen / road works going on.. they may just be dismantaling the bridge.. so maybe it will end up in a gallery or something.. but it was a bit weird how they had just removed the "banksy" bit.

Ah well..

That's quite enough of being measured and reasonable, I was enjoying my moment of indignation !

[slowmo]

How about the Eine side? Whats happened to that, if anything. This is Brick Lane isn't it?

[blackasmarch]

A walk around London the other day showed that most of the Banksy stuff I new has gone- the newspaper boxes have all been sold. The trouble is that these pieces are seriously valuable (the 'what' boy reportedly sold for 500k).

While i understand people objecting to the removal of all street stuff there is a difference in buying and removing a newspaper box legally and ripping down part of a wall illegally IMO. Whereas one can be removed easily (I think their just bolted down) and has at least been done with the owners approval the other requires a circular saw, destroys the piece and is done with no permission.

[finsburyparkranger]

Yeah and Banksy always seeks the owners permision first himself doesn't he. But I know what you mean, its a shame that the public space again becomes private. It is a selfish act.

[stenz1]

I agree its a really selfish act which defeats the whole purpose of street art.............but thats going to happen when money becomes involved........people get greedy! as is seen by people buying up lots of prints for profit which is wrong but understandable...........buffing banksy by workmen is just jobworthy and dumb as f%ck............but cutting banksy's out of walls and depriving people of the joy in seeing them as they were intended by the artist and selling them for ridiculous profits is just so wrong!!!!!!!!and they're going to HELL!!!hahaahahaaha ;D

[John]

slowmo said:

How about the Eine side? Whats happened to that, if anything. This is Brick Lane isn't it?

EINE is still there. i'll take some pics on my way home.

[andrewd]

I went past last week and thought to myself that someone would go for the Banksy. It looked rather big 15-20 foot long and unusually it wasn't a Banksy tag ( not the Banksy font ) Made me wonder whether Eine did both but as it is in the Banksy book I imagine it was Banksy. The other large BANKSY I can think of that doesn't use the futurist tag was the BANKSIDE that was changed to BANKSY.
Sad to see that it's gone and that there is just a hole there leaving the rest of the work.
The work on the bridge had progressed so that all the foliage had been chopped down and there was a plastic temporary fence behind the tag. That had been covered in lots of different grafitti and also on the wall below the Banksy were a couple of what looked like Adam Neate paintings just hanging there about 20 foot up. I am sure they have gone as well!!

[Daniel Silk]

Does anyone have a photo of it removed? ;D Be interesting to see before and after shots

[John]

It seems to be dissapearing bit by bit! last night at about 8pm all that was missing was the "banksy"...

If you look carefully they snapped a bit off the "Y".

This morning, more of it has dissapeared!



I cant believe BBC news hasnt picked up on this yet. Im sure they would if the mona lisa had been stolen. This was one of banksys biggest bits of artwork in the uk wasnt it?

[corblimeylimey]

It really sucks, what on earth are they going to do with it?

If their plan is to take the whole thing maybe someone on our side should take the next bit ;D

[John]

I bet they replace the stolen bit with "call Tower hamlets council".. haha

[Curley]

johnb said:

It seems to be dissapearing bit by bit! last night at about 8pm all that was missing was the "banksy"...

If you look carefully they snapped a bit off the "Y".

This morning, more of it has dissapeared!



I cant believe BBC news hasnt picked up on this yet. Im sure they would if the mona lisa had been stolen. This was one of banksys biggest bits of artwork in the uk wasnt it?

I am as pissed off as everyone on this Forum at the theft of the Banksy Street art but i do have to say it aint quite as important or as significant as the Mona Lisa

[hungrig]

Although I am aware that the following will go against the flow of opinion here, I thought it was important to express a different view and show things from another perspective.

There is a tendency on this Forum to hold street art as being almost sacred, something which should appreciated and revered in a similar manner to a painting in a museum. People seem to get particularly upset and outraged by its removal. This view would seem to be in direct conflict with the very nature of street art. [By "street art", I am focussing on graffiti, and excluding official works such as murals that have received prior authorisation by the relevant council or municipal authority.]

I would argue that, by definition, street art is meant to be ephemeral. It pops up overnight, and it's gone shortly afterwards (once the authorities have spotted it and got their act together). For the artists, one of the thrills is seeing how long their work will stay up. However, there is no doubt in their mind that it will at some stage be washed off, ripped down, or painted over.

While it's a shame when a nice piece gets removed, that is also the game. All graffiti artists and wheatpasters accept it. The transient and fleeting nature of street art is part of its beauty, and its mystique.

[hungrig]

Separately, I think this Banksy piece was rather weak. Certainly not in the same league as some of his other work. It was also far more interesting when painted on a live cow during the 'Turf War' period.

Bring on the flak.

[saltandiron]

hungrig, I'd agree with you up to a point. I have no problem with a council buffing something but personally I don't think its ok for a third party to come along and take something. I can't really explain why I see a difference in my head but somehow I do.

[ogrgel]

well IMO it's one thing to over paint a piece and another to steal it ..
.. and there is one more question .. if this someone is taking it home , where does he live ? .. in a tunnel

[Daniel Silk]

I guess it all really come down to what is happening with the piece? Scrap-yard, Art Auction, or Gallery?

[numusic]

hungrig said:

Although I am aware that the following will go against the flow of opinion here, I thought it was important to express a different view and show things from another perspective.

There is a tendency on this Forum to hold street art as being almost sacred, something which should appreciated and revered in a similar manner to a painting in a museum. People seem to get particularly upset and outraged by its removal. This view would seem to be in direct conflict with the very nature of street art. [By "street art", I am focussing on graffiti, and excluding official works such as murals that have received prior authorisation by the relevant council or municipal authority.]

I would argue that, by definition, street art is meant to be ephemeral. It pops up overnight, and it's gone shortly afterwards (once the authorities have spotted it and got their act together). For the artists, one of the thrills is seeing how long their work will stay up. However, there is no doubt in their mind that it will at some stage be washed off, ripped down, or painted over.

While it's a shame when a nice piece gets removed, that is also the game. All graffiti artists and wheatpasters accept it. The transient and fleeting nature of street art is part of its beauty, and its mystique.

Must say I agree with this to a certain extent.. apart from the muppets who rob them... but yes, a massive part of the beauty and attraction of the work is the transient nature of it. Otherwise we have mundane council approved works not dissimilar in ethos to the bronze "public art" statuettes scattered around most cities..

[BK83]

Sure Hungrig makes some valid points, but come on. there is an inherent difference between what has likley transpired here and having the council or some other streetartist go over the work.

In my estimation this is a group of people trying to make some money off of the Banksy craze. and in no way can be seen as part of the ephemeral nature of streetart. Banksy is not a mindless vandal -- this is mindless vandalism.

[Strange Al]

I think this is an interesting topic for debate.

Hungrig - good point, well made.

Though like some of the others, I too think that there's a fundamental difference between a street work being stolen and one being buffed or sprayed over.

There's definitely something inherently wrong with stealing a street work. However, could there be some long term benefit derived from these "stolen" pieces? Many classical pieces displayed in museums today were for all intents and purposes stolen. But for this fact, we'd not be able to see them today. Maybe in the future we'll say the same thing about Banksy's work. Maybe, they'll end up in the Tate rather than being whitewashed.

In relation to this particular Banksy piece, I think it's all about context. Once moved, it loses all of it's artistic appeal IMO. That said, if the "thieves" moved the whole thing piece by piece and resurrected it outside Number 10 that would be class.

[John]

waaahh

I know all grafitti has a life.. hence faile is called "faile" (it's an anagram of "a life", but im sure you all know that). Its just a shame its gone. Its was nice nice to walk past everyday!

[ogrgel]

[smashedhat]

Perhaps it's being removed by TFL, that's very near to shoreditch station which is now closed for the east london line extensions

This being the case I expect the Banksy will be in Red Ken's garden by the weekend

[maccamcd]

hello punters, need to add a few photos to a message, the help website isn't working, anybody out there who can explain to a dimwit?

[corblimeylimey]

maccamcd said:

hello punters, need to add a few photos to a message, the help website isn't working, anybody out there who can explain to a dimwit?

use www.imageshack.us/ or photobucket.com/
after uploading copy the last link (direct link to image)
click the reply button (under posts) and paste the link,
highlight it, then press the picture image, 4th from the left above the smilies. (no need to do this if using photobucket as the tags are included in the url
click preview to check it's ok before posting

good luck