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<\/p>\nFor over 30 years, the British street artist Banksy has been making international headlines. His paint-and-stencil works, which spontaneously appear on walls, bridges and other urban structures, combine social and political commentary with cheeky and often irreverent humor.<\/p>\n
That he has done this anonymously, with his identity never revealed, has elevated his mystique.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also made him (presumably) wealthy, as Banksy \u2013 or rather, his \u201cteam\u201d \u2013 sells original paintings, sculpture and prints of his street work through a website called Pest Control.<\/p>\n
The website, and the occasional pop-up Banksy-authorized exhibit in London, Los Angeles or New York, all operate under a cloak of secrecy. Banksy is the Batman of the art world, and those who could identify Bruce Wayne are keeping mum.<\/p>\n
The Art of Banksy opens July 31 at Tampa Straz Center; the stage of Morsani Hall, the complex\u2019s largest theater, will be transformed into a walk-through art gallery.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFlower Thrower,\u201d also known as \u201cLove is in the Air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s Corey Ross is the producer of the traveling exhibit, which consists of 160 pieces of art of various size and substance. Although the show isn\u2019t an \u201cofficial\u201d Banksy exhibit, every painting, print, sculpture and bit of ephemera has been authenticated by the guerilla artist\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting challenge to do, on the stage of a theater,\u201d Ross told the Catalyst. \u201cTo display real art in a compelling and interesting way onstage ends up being wonderful. It was a wonderful opportunity. You have all of the technology and staging that you can do in a theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it in galleries. So I would say this is going to be the grandest version that we\u2019ve done to date, because we had the opportunity to be grand with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Because it\u2019s prized by collectors, original Banksy art is pricey, and hard to come by. Ross, whose company started touring The Art of Banksy in 2018, said the art on display is valued at $35 million. \u201cIt\u2019s all sitting in private homes, or in warehouses owned by collectors,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went out and began to network with all the different collectors, and that\u2019s how this collection got assembled. If Banksy came to Tampa and decided to do his own exhibit, it would be something very different than this. But in the meantime, he\u2019s not doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis allows us to create an exhibit which speaks \u2018of\u2019 Banksy in a way he may or may not be prepared to speak of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the vandal\u2019s best works. \u2013 The Globe and Mail (U.K.)<\/p>\n
Arguably, the artist\u2019s most famous work is Girl With Balloon, originally stenciled on London\u2019s Waterloo Bridge in 2002. Variations subsequently appeared in several political hotspots in England, in France and on the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Banksy and Pest Control produced a limited number of signed original paintings and prints of the work.<\/p>\n
One of these sold at Sotheby\u2019s auction house for approximately $2 million in 2018. As the gavel came down, finalizing the last bid, the print began to move downwards. Banksy, who was watching the auction online, had surreptitiously installed a shredder in the bottom of the frame, and Girl With Balloon was partially shredded, to the horror of those in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing, going, gone\u201d wrote the artist on Instagram.<\/p>\n
The buyer opted to keep the work, half shredded and hanging out of the frame. Authenticated by Pest Control and retitled Love is in the Bin, the piece sold for more than $24 million in 2021.<\/p>\n
(Note: Love is is the Bin is not included in The Art of Banksy.)<\/p>\n
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Also included in The Art of Banksy: Examples of his Di-Faced Tenners, counterfeit 10-pound bills that replaced Queen Elizabeth\u2019s face with that of Princess Diana (and referenced \u201cThe Banksy of England\u201d); and his \u201ctake\u201d on Paris Hilton\u2019s 2006 debut CD: Banksy replaced the booklet inside with his own artwork and comments, and \u201creverse shoplifted\u201d his version into London record stores.<\/p>\n
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Actor Brad Pitt, a friend of the otherwise-anonymous artist, purchased Banksy\u2019s stencil-and-mesh Mona Lisa, and kept it for 18 years. In 2022, Pitt returned it to Banksy, who proceeded to \u201cupdate\u201d the work. This revised version is now on view in The Art of Banksy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d said Ross, \u201cour sense is that they (Banksy and Pest Control) really respect what we do because it is authentic. It\u2019s all authenticated work, truly coming from their collectors. And it\u2019s intelligently speaking to the history of Banksy.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, he added, is what separates \u201chis\u201d show from would-be imitators.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of those imitators would not use authentic art, because that\u2019s the hard work,\u201d Ross said. \u201cIf Brad Pitt\u2019s going to let you have his Mona Lisa, you\u2019ve got to prove that you\u2019re doing a project that\u2019s good quality, and that you\u2019re going to take good care of the art.\u201d<\/p>\n
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