In 2013 Banksy set up a stall in New York’s Central Park to sell his original paintings- and was point-blank ignored. The England-based street artist, best known for his anonymity, was selling the signed artwork for only $60 each, in another of his infamous stunts. While Banksy’s works can sell for millions, the artist made only $420 in a day from the stall. With no clue that the canvas paintings were Banksy originals, shoppers walked straight past.
While the $60 price tag was incredibly low for an original Banksy, for those passing the stall, the apparently fake paintings would have seemed expensive compared to the cheaper prints sold by other stalls.
Banksy revealed his stunt with a post on his website showing an elderly man sitting at the kiosk, ignored by passers-by. He was captured yawning on video, clearly not being approached by any buyers. Banksy posted on his website,
“Yesterday I set up a stall in the park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases. For $60 each.”
Shockingly, before this news broke, only a few people appeared to be interested in buying. According to Banksy’s website, the first buyer even haggled over the price, to get half-off for her two purchases. The paintings sold at the kiosk are estimated to be worth up to $20,000 each!
The paintings also ranged in size, as well as some being potentially more valuable than others. The stall included a version of ‘Love Is In The Air’; a limited edition of this painting sold for $249,000 in 2013.
A woman from New Zealand also bought two canvas paintings, and one lucky man bought four, saying he needed something to decorate his new house. Unfortunately, these were some of the few that managed to get a hold of the elusive painter’s works, as Banksy announced that the stall would not return after that day. He said on his website,
“Please note: This was a one off. The stall will not be there again today.”
However, Banksy-imitators would take advantage of the stunt and would entice those hoping to find an original Banksy after the news broke. One ‘fake Banksy’ stall sold five times as many paintings as the original stall. They advertised their paintings as fake, however, but this clearly did not discourage buyers.
Banksy is not a stranger to art stunts, having made a sculpture piece two days before the Central Park stall stunt. It was entitled ‘Sirens of the Lambs’, and involved a slaughterhouse truck being driven around, with 60 stuffed animals inside. This was likely to send a message about the cruelty of the food industry. Both stunts were part of a larger undertaking of Banksy’s, where he revealed one work of art daily for a month. It was officially titled ‘Better Out Than In’.
Banksy’s social experiment, while hilarious, does raise questions of what makes art valuable today. Before the works at the stall were validated as official Banksy works, they hardly attracted anyone! It will be interesting to see what the elusive artist comes up with next.
