Category: 2022

2022, Charity, Prints

New print release for Ukrainian charity. 9 December 2022

by banksyunofficial

In his own words:

“I’ve made 50 of these screenprints with all proceeds going to our friends in Ukraine. Visit banksy.legacyofwarfoundation.com”

It’s a signed and hand-finished print in an edition of 50. The price is GBP 5,000 plus taxes; the market value is, of course, much higher. One can sign up here to participate in the lottery: https://banksy.legacyofwarfoundation.com. All proceeds go to the Legacy of War Foundation, an ONG helping the Ukrainians with medical supplies and other peaceful equipment.

“In Ukraine I saw a Legacy of War team sweep in and provide medical attention, heaters, fresh water and a friendly face to some very desperate people in a bombed out building. They also lent me one of their ambulances to work from, which turned out to be extremely useful when an angry babushka found me painting on her building and called the Police. I feel the least I should do is raise enough money to replace the number plates on the ambulance I hotted up..” — Banksy

2022, Fakes, UK

Banksy vs GUESS. London, 18 November 2022

by banksyunofficial

Fashion retailer GUESS was forced to shut their Regent Street outlet on 18 November, a few hours after Banksy posted the following message on Instagram: “They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?”

In November 2022, Guess announced their collaboration with Brandalised, a company that specialises in selling licences for popular images to international retailers. This wretched use of Banksy’s art is possible thanks to an unfavourable ruling at the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) in May 2021.

Photos: @banksy and http://www.guess.com

2022, Europe (excl. UK), Fakes

All these 100% fake Banksy exhibitions. 22 August 2022

by banksyunofficial

There are two types of unauthorised Banksy exhibitions: Those with authentic pieces, and those with 100% fakes and reproductions.

  1. The exhibitions with authentic works are unauthorised by the artist, but well-curated displays of special edition screen prints, canvases, and other unique material, all with a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control Office. The MOCO Museum in Amsterdam has an excellent but unauthorized permanent Banksy exhibition. Another one with authentic pieces is Art of Banksy, last seen in Covent Garden in London and Washington DC. (The Art of Banksy was initially curated by former agent Steve Lazarides.) The other ones are Banksy—the Art of Protest—previously labelled Genius or Vandal? and Building Castles in the Sky, last seen in New York and curated by Andipa. They source their pieces from serious, long-term collectors. One can assume they are not very popular with the Banksy camp, but, they are honest and well-executed exhibitions.
  2. On the other side, there are several ongoing exhibitions around the world with 100% fake artwork, squeezing out the exhibits mentioned above. They have no insurance or cost of sourcing the art, as they only display fakes. Typically, these fake exhibits consist of bad reproductions of street art and shoddy copies of his most iconic canvases and screen prints. The organisers often promote the fake studio pieces as being authentic. To make it even more fake and confusing, one of these shady operators has copied the name of The Art of Banksy from the exhibit mentioned above.

The following photos are from the 100% fake but well-attended exhibit The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind in Malmö, Sweden.

Photos from the 100% fake Banksy exhibition The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind in Malmö, Sweden. Photos: R.A.