Topline
A group of would-be thieves were arrested in Ukraine Friday as they were trying to steal a mural by graffiti artist Banksy off the side of a bombed-out building, police said, cutting off one of seven works by Banksy that turned up in war-torn areas overnight last month.
Graffiti by artist Banksy on the wall of a destroyed residential building in the Hostomel, which was … [+]
Key Facts
Police responded to a call that a group of people were trying to cut out the mural from the side of a house partially destroyed by Russian troops in Hostomel, about 20 miles northwest of Kyiv, the head of the National Police in Kyiv Andrii Nebytov said.
On the scene, officers caught eight people in the act, all of whom were residents of Kyiv and Cherkasy, a city southeast of the capital, and all were between 27 and 60 years old.
The mural itself, which shows an image of what appears to be a figure wearing a bathrobe, hair curlers and a gas mask holding a fire extinguisher, was unharmed and remains in custody while the future of the piece is determined, Kyiv Oblast Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Kuleba warned copycats that the seven Banksy works in Ukraine are “under police protection,” calling them “a symbol of the struggle” against Russia and calling on Ukrainians to preserve the street art.
A photograph from a Ukrainian official shows the mural cut from the wall of the building.
Key Background
Banksy is the most well-known street artist in the world. In November, he confirmed that he was behind seven pieces that appeared overnight in areas of Ukraine that had been attacked by Russian forces. The pieces portray individuals doing ordinary activities in extraordinary circumstances, like a bearded man bathing on the side of a bombed-out building, children playing a game among metal antitank barriers and a girl doing gymnastics atop rubble. Banksy’s pieces regularly fetch millions at auction, creating an incentive for thieves to take his public work. In June, eight men were sentenced to prison after being convicted of stealing a Banksy of a mournful figure painted on the door of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where in 90 people were killed in a 2015 terrorist attack. It was widely seen as a memorial to the victims.
Big Number
$24.5 million. That’s how much Banksy’s most expensive work fetched at auction in April. Titled “Love Is In The Bin,” the work features a partially shredded print of Banksy’s well-known “Girl With A Balloon.” The work made headlines in 2018 after the original print sold for about $1.3 million at Sotheby’s, only for the work to fall into a shredder hidden in the bottom of the frame after the hammer dropped. Sotheby’s called it “the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction.”
Further Reading
Shredded Banksy Artwork Sold For Record $24.5 Million (Forbes)
Banksy Tells Shoplifters To Steal From Guess, Says Company ‘Helped Themselves To My Artwork’ (Forbes)
A Banksy For Ukraine: All $106,505 Of Rare Print’s Proceeds Donated T0 Kyiv Children’s Hospital (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/12/02/theft-of-banksy-mural-in-ukraine-foiled-by-police/