Caveat emptor – Banksy’s Croydon work on Ebay

A quick round up this morning of not a lot….

Banksy in Croydon, photo: artofthestate

Croydon’s very own Banksy piece has finally turned up on Ebay for a starting price of £25,000. ‘Large Graffiti Slogan’ or the ‘Ikea Punk’ as it is sometimes known was cut out of a wall in a nondescript trading estate in a suburb that had been little troubled by Banksy in the past. At the time it was in a very sorry state, covered in tags and was then subject to some very heavy renovation. It emerged looking amazingly fresh and almost too clean. According to an interview with the BBC Nick Loizou, and Bradley Ridge claimed that they removed the three ton wall for ‘the right reasons’. Presumably the ‘right reasons’ included flogging something on Ebay that was left on the street for anyone to enjoy (or wreck). Based on past cases this piece will never get authentication from Pest Control. Buyer beware.

Also appearing in Camden in the past couple of days were new works by Robbo in the spots where his long running feud with Banksy has been going on. It’s not exactly an accident that this has happened in the same week that Robbo has a show of works opening at Pure Evil’s street art (!) gallery in Shoreditch. Considering how many times Banksy has been accused of using hype there is, according to some posters on forums, a distinct whiff of the dog calling the cat ‘hairy arse’ in the timing of these pieces. All very strange and bearing in mind the mixing of graffiti writers and street art enthusiasts it may be advisable to take a tin hat to the opening night if you’re going.

Still not found the recent Keep Britain Tidy, No Future and I Love You pieces….