Unauthorised exhibitions of fake Banksy artwork are a constant headache for Team Banksy and their legal guardian, the Pest Control Office. One element in this battle is the warning Pest Control posted on Wednesday, 22 October, on their website https://pestcontroloffice.com, about a new, unauthorised fake exhibition in London:
“The new Banksy show in London is not a show by Banksy. The artist wasn’t asked about it, hasn’t contributed to it and won’t issue refunds if you didn’t like it.”
There are two types of unauthorised Banksy exhibitions: those featuring authentic studio artwork sourced from serious collectors, and those with copies and fakes. The ones with copies and fakes have been touring all over Europe and the US, but now it seems to be the first time one of these fake shows has appeared on Banksy’s home turf. On the other hand, in recent years, there have been several unauthorised exhibitions in the UK with authentic Banksy artwork, such as the ongoing exhibition at MOCO in Marble Arch, or one in Covent Graden in 2021. One can assume that these unauthorised exhibitions featuring authentic Banksy artwork are not very popular with the Banksy camp, but they are nevertheless honest and well-executed.
The same can not be said of the exhibition mentioned by Pest Control. There is a big difference: Not only do they display shoddy copies of Banksy studio work and bad reproductions of street art pieces, but they also market the exhibition as if they had authentic pieces:
One can wonder how it is possible to market a show with fakes as “Museum Quality”? And make promises like these:
“For a limited time, explore hundreds of works by the elusive artist, from originals to large-scale installations. Plus, exclusive pieces reproduced just for this show“?
Of course, there will be no “originals” or “exclusive pieces reproduced just for this show”. There will only be fakes. Are there no marketing laws in the UK nowadays?
See previous post: https://banksyunofficial.com/2022/08/22/all-these-100-fake-banksy-exhibitions-22-august-2022/
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