Banksy auction raises more than expected
Published on: 25-Oct-2007
An auction of graffiti artist Banksy's work has raised £546,000 – almost double what was expected.Out of the ten pieces and a print up for grabs at Bohnams auction house, the most expensive, depicting two policemen, fetched £96,000.
Another piece, sold for £24,000, shows a series of £10 notes with Princess Diana's head superimposed over the Queen's.
Banksy is gaining in popularity after, apparently, being given the celebrity seal of approval at an exhibition he staged in Los Angeles attracting a bid for his work, reportedly, from Angelina Jolie, of £200.000.
The irony of this mainstream acceptance of Graffiti as an art form is not lost on Gareth Williams, a Bonhams specialist.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said: "The most incredible aspect of the Banksy phenomenon is neither his meteoric rise, nor the substantial sums of money that his art now commands, but that as a self-confessed artist guerilla artist, he has been so wholeheartedly embraced by the very establishment he satirizes."
Banksy's artistry, it seems, is not universally admired, as some of his original work, on walls in Tower Hamlets, is being erased as officials classify it vandalism.
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