Banksy confirms Bristol Valentine’s Day artwork is his (bbc.co.uk).
The piece features a stencil of a girl firing red flowers made with spray-painted ivy from a catapult.
Banksy published a picture of the work on his Instagram page at midnight on Valentine’s Day.
But as it inevitably the case with anything “powerful yet simple to appreciate” the “national treasure” (myartbroker.com) stencils on someone’s wall, the real story—as with his Port Talbot yuletide season’s greetings (Blog 19th Dec. 2018)—is what they are going to do with it and how they will protect the “gift” in the meantime:
Kelly Woodruff, whose father owns the property in Barton Hill, said they now wanted to protect the “special” work from the approaching Storm Dennis.
“As it’s Valentine’s Day, it’s really special and to have it in 3D with the flowers is incredible,” said 37-year-old Ms Woodruff.
With flowers placed on the road sign as part of the artwork already pinched and property owner paying out for a protective plastic screen to place over the figure of the girl to prevent someone adding their street art to it, but with Bristol City Council’s street maintenance department advising the family to get in touch with the International Fine Art Conservation Studios (IFACS) for advice.
Updated 15th February 2020
But:
Banksy artwork in Bristol is vandalised days after appearing (theguardian.com).
A picture shared on social media showed “BCC wankers” scrawled across the artwork, which shows a young girl firing a slingshot filled with flowers.
With the graffiti appearing to be a reference to Bristol City Council, and perhaps Banksy, despite his activism themes, now seen as just another representation of middle-English liberal neglect in divided Blighty and therefore joining the art establishment after all. Did they pinch the protective plastic screen too and is it now forming some Duchamp-esque readymade along with a traffic cone in some chaps bedroom?
As a result it seems that property owner—who was initially delighted with the public artworks appearance coinciding with his 67th birthday and the prospect that it could add thousands to the value of the property which he rents out (metro.co.uk) will be adding temporary fencing and CCTV to protect it (thetelegraphandargus.co.uk), although again as with that Port Talbot season’s greetings which proved as much pain as pleasure for the involuntarily gifted custodian, some may suggest that Banksy’s next should involve inclusion of a stenciled white elephant.
Recent/related stories
- Banksy nativiety scene unveiled in Bethlehem (Latest Picks 24th December 2019)
- Banksy’s chimpanzees ‘Devolved Parliament’ painting sold for artist record £9.9m (Latest Picks 3rd October 2019)
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