Why Banksy’s art often disappears

The artist has now come up with a number of things to counteract this.

“Valentine’s Day Mascara” remained untouched for only a few hours. The new work by the mysterious street artist Banksy – sprayed as usual on a house wall in Margate in the southeastern English county of Kent – has already been through a few days after its appearance on Valentine’s Day. The central component is a real freezer, which, however, did not remain in place for long. The case of the chest drama with several acts is an example of the conflicting interests in Banksy’s art.

The most recent work makes little sense without the chest: it shows a woman in the style of the 1950s with an apron and yellow gloves, she has a black eye, she is missing a tooth – and apparently she has just pushed her partner into a freezer. Two legs painted on the wall behind protrude from the – real – chest.

However, Valentine’s Day was only a few hours old when the freezer first disappeared – for reasons of health and safety, as the local council dutifully announced shortly afterwards. A day later, the chest was back in place before disappearing again on Thursday. This time, in consultation with the homeowner, a London gallery had put them in storage for later reunion with the rest of the work elsewhere.

The back and forth on the previously completely inconspicuous house wall in Margate in southern England is symbolic of the tension in which the exceptional artist moves. Banksy himself always chooses places for his art that are avoided by others. As recently around Kiev, he decorates war and crisis zones with his works, before – like two years ago in Nottingham or now in Margate – Banksy motifs reappear in places where nobody expected them. He draws attention to social problems, such as domestic violence at the moment.

“He goes to the districts that really need it,” says art historian Ulrich Blanché from the University of Heidelberg to the German Press Agency. “He knows: No matter where I leave a work, it will be a sight.” Banksy has the power to give a gift to specific communities and places.

At the same time, every new original is now worth millions. So for the art world to let a Banksy be Banksy and let hot spots do their sightseeing is not an option. Specialists are usually on the spot quickly, wrapping, cutting and milling until the work is carefully packed and transported to the galleries in the metropolis.

Banksy’s aversion to the conventional art world is well known. The framed “Girl with Balloon” motif, which self-destructed from the picture frame with a built-in shredder during an auction in London, became legendary.

Expert Blanché also sees a trend in the artist’s more recent street art works, at least not making it easy for the scene. “He’s making it increasingly difficult to remove his works from their place of origin,” says the art historian, who has studied Banksy intensively for decades. “He makes it harder for people to make money out of it.” For example, Banksy has been working increasingly three-dimensionally for ten to fifteen years, incorporating surrounding objects. “This is also an appeal to viewers: Hey, there are some things lying around, do something with them. See art in them.”

Blanché believes that it was taken into account from the outset that the works will not remain in their original form for long. “The work is for everyone and the work is for the photograph.” A trend towards the medium of video, in which three-dimensional objects can be displayed particularly well, can also be seen.

Despite all efforts, the legs of the man on the wall of the house in Margate, who seemed to have been disposed of by his partner, did not remain without a container for long. Miraculously, another chest appeared on Thursday after the original chest had been removed.