Art vandals podcast

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Drew: Hi Kate! How are you doing?

Kate: I’m fine, thanks. I was just reading about the latest Banksy stunt. Isn’t it absolutely amazing?

Drew: Oh! I haven’t heard anything about that. What is it all about?

Kate: Well, the other day, Banksy’s painting Girl with Balloon was sold for over a million pounds at Sotheby’s in London, and, just after the auctioneer had accepted the final bid and closed the sale, the painting suddenly started to self-destruct.

Drew: What do you mean “self-destruct”?

Kate: Well, it suddenly started to slide down through a shredder that was hidden in the frame.

Drew: You’re kidding me!

Kate: No I’m not. Have a look for yourself. This is the photo that Banksy posted on his Instagram account.

Drew: Wow! “Going, going, gone….” Ha, ha, ha. That is awesome! So he set up the prank himself?

Kate: Himself, or herself…or themselves. Nobody knows who Banksy really is.

Drew: Well, whoever Banksy is, it would seem that this was a hoax.

Kate: Oh, definitely! The whole thing was set up! If you google Banksy, you’ll see the video of how the shredder was fitted inside the frame.

Drew: And why do you think he did it?

Kate: Well, I reckon it’s all part of the Banksy trademark. His work is usually provocative and quite controversial, and to me, this looks like he’s having a dig at the part of the art world that he obviously despises.

Drew: You mean art dealers and people whose only interest in art is as an investment?

Kate: Exactly!

Drew: Well, I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of the person who bought the painting. I mean to buy a painting for over a million pounds only to see it shredded immediately after.

Kate: Well, that really depends if he or she is an art lover or an investor. They say that the painting will now have increased in value.

Drew: Right…so do you think the auctioneers were in on the act too? You know, as a way to make more money.

Kate: That’s one of the hypotheses put forward in this article, but Sotheby’s deny they’ve had anything to do with it.

Drew: Well, they would, wouldn’t they? But, I can’t believe that a frame with a shredder inside could have possibly got through all the security scans that they must have…In any case, with all the media attention, the painting will certainly be worth more now.

Kate: Maybe Banksy wanted to demonstrate that a work of art always belongs to the artist, however much money it is sold for, or maybe it was a simple act of vandalism…

Drew: Yeah, who knows? We’ll probably never get to the bottom of it. But you’ve just reminded me of something I once read about a guy who vandalized Picasso’s painting Guernika when it was in the MOMA back in the seventies.

Kate: Really? Why did he do that?

Drew: Let me try to find the article on Google…Here it is! Well, apparently a guy called Tony Shafrazi, who, incidentally, later became a well-known art dealer, went into the Museum of Modern Art in New York and sprayed the words KILL LIES ALL in red paint all over the Guernika.

Kate: Why on earth did he do that?

Drew: At the time, it was understood to be a protest against the release of a U.S. army lieutenant who had taken part in a massacre of civilians in the Vietnam War. However, several years later, Shafrazi claimed in an interview that what he had really intended was to “retrieve the painting from art history and bring it back to life.”

Kate: But what’s all that got to do with Banksy?

Drew: Well, because in the article they say that Picasso himself would probably have approved of this idea of bringing the painting back to life. In fact, apparently, he once said that everything he created was “made for the present, with the hope that it would remain in the present.” So it seems to me that Banksy might have acted with a similar idea in mind. In the same way that Shafrazi argued that he had intended to retrieve the Guernika painting from art history, maybe Banksy didn’t want his painting to become part of the history of art either.

Kate: I have to say it sounds a little far-fetched to me…

Drew: Really? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am. After all, Banksy is the most famous exponent of street art in the UK and street art is, by definition, created for public spaces and not for private art collections.

Kate: You might be right but I think here we’ll have to agree to differ.
I am more inclined to think that this whole thing has been done for much less academic reasons. I think it was just a publicity stunt to jack up the price.

Drew: Well, they’ve certainly done that. It is not the first time that an act of vandalism against a work of art has increased its value, precisely because of the interest created.

Kate: Such as?

Drew: Look at the Rokeby Venus*. It must be one of the most popular exhibits in the National Gallery in London. Apart from the fact that it is a beautiful painting and Velazquez’s only surviving female nude, part of its appeal for visitors is knowing that a woman once attacked the canvas with a meat chopper.

Kate: Oh yes, I’ve heard of that…She was protesting against the arrest of Mrs. Pankhurst, who was the leader of the Suffragette Movement, the women who fought to win the right to vote at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Drew: See what I mean? The act of vandalism created interest in the painting and gave it even greater value.

Kate: You’re right. When I visited the National Gallery, I remember trying to see where the painting had been slashed.

Drew: You see? It makes the work all the more fascinating. I’m sure that when people go to the Vatican to see Michelangelo’s La Pietá, quite a few will try to see where the sculpture was damaged in the 70s by a guy who attacked it with a hammer, while shouting “I am Christ!” to onlookers.

Kate: You’re kidding!

Drew: Oh no, I’m not! I can´t remember his name, but before attacking Michelangelo’s masterpiece, he had written to the Pope to demand that the Catholic Church recognize him as the Messiah.

Kate: No way! And what happened to him?

Drew: He was judged to be unbalanced and committed to a mental hospital.

Kate: Oh, that’s sad!

Drew: Yes it is….

Kate: It’s incredible that a work of art can have such a profound effect on people.

Drew: Yeah. For most of us, a masterpiece produces positive emotions, but for some people, the same works of art seem to trigger negative feelings that lead them to act violently.

Kate: I suppose it takes all sorts to make a world.

Drew: It does indeed. Well, to change the subject, let’s go and get something to eat. I’m starving!

Kate: Me too!



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*The Rokeby Venus (aka The Toilet of Venus) is the Venus del Espejo painted
by Diego Velázquez circa1651.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/13/shredded-banksy-was-sothebys-in-on-the-act
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/most-infamous-acts-of-art-vandalism