If anything the fact that the value increased is even more of a mockery of the high art world.
It reminded me of that one artist that was arrested for fraud because they were commissioned thousands for an art piece and just took the money and ran. If I recall correctly, the charges were dropped because they successfully argued that the whole situation was the art piece and a parody of the high art world.
I think there’s some validity to the existence of a conceptual, meta-art subculture within the art world. Once you’re familiar with a medium (the compositional theories, the heritage of inspirational works, the framework of contemporary cultural context, etc), subversion becomes increasingly attractive.
Spend long enough deep diving into music, and you start unironically liking songs that sound like random noise to the average person.
Spend long enough geeking out on movies, and you start liking movies that don’t make sense to the average person.
Spend long enough immersed in any cultural medium,and you’ll get bored of convention, and you’ll gravitate towards pieces that subvert expectations and explore abstract forms.
The original auction of Girl with Balloon went for 1 million pounds in 2018. Love is in the Bin sold for 18.5 million pounds in 2021. That’s an 18x appreciation over 3 years. And a good move for the 2018 buyer to follow through with the purchase.
I saw a news article yesterday saying they intend to remove it. They didn’t elaborate on how, but removing a chunk of wall would be a pretty big endeavor.
It’s actually pretty tricky. It’s a historical building, which has protections. That the banksy makes it more valuable and a target at the same time is humorous outside of the sharp critique.
I expect they’re guarding it until that chunk of the wall can be extracted to sell (before someone else does).
That is an excellent and profitable plan for someone, right up until the wall starts sledge-hammering itself to bits on the auction floor.
Still one of the coolest moves ever. It’s ironic that it likely increased the value of the piece.
If anything the fact that the value increased is even more of a mockery of the high art world.
It reminded me of that one artist that was arrested for fraud because they were commissioned thousands for an art piece and just took the money and ran. If I recall correctly, the charges were dropped because they successfully argued that the whole situation was the art piece and a parody of the high art world.
Taping a banana to the wall
The un-made bed
I think there’s some validity to the existence of a conceptual, meta-art subculture within the art world. Once you’re familiar with a medium (the compositional theories, the heritage of inspirational works, the framework of contemporary cultural context, etc), subversion becomes increasingly attractive.
Spend long enough deep diving into music, and you start unironically liking songs that sound like random noise to the average person.
Spend long enough geeking out on movies, and you start liking movies that don’t make sense to the average person.
Spend long enough immersed in any cultural medium,and you’ll get bored of convention, and you’ll gravitate towards pieces that subvert expectations and explore abstract forms.
A similar story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_the_Money_and_Run_(artwork/)
The original auction of Girl with Balloon went for 1 million pounds in 2018. Love is in the Bin sold for 18.5 million pounds in 2021. That’s an 18x appreciation over 3 years. And a good move for the 2018 buyer to follow through with the purchase.
I saw a news article yesterday saying they intend to remove it. They didn’t elaborate on how, but removing a chunk of wall would be a pretty big endeavor.
It’s actually pretty tricky. It’s a historical building, which has protections. That the banksy makes it more valuable and a target at the same time is humorous outside of the sharp critique.
Yeah they should paint over it. Or powerwash it off.
Funnily enough (for a brief moment at least):