Five works by cult graffiti artist Banksy failed to sell at a weekend auction after doubts were raised about their authenticity.
On its website, auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull said that the five top lots by Banksy with a combined estimate of 200-275,000 pounds ($360-495,000) and called “street works” because they were removed from their original urban settings, went unsold.
It was unclear whether their failure to find buyers was a result of the row over authenticity or reflected broader uncertainty in the contemporary art market caused by the financial crisis. Lyon & Turnbull were unavailable for comment.
Before Saturday’s London sale, the auctioneer said the five main Banksy’s on offer were genuine, even though the only authorized verification body had declined to confirm that they were by the hugely successful British artist.
Pest Control said it would not approve any street pieces removed from their original settings, partly to crack down on fakes and partly to protect the original concept.
His work became so valuable that several street pieces were salvaged, including a painting attributed to Banksy on a wall in London that fetched 208,100 pounds ($383,000) in an online sale. The cost of removing the wall and replacing it was not included.
Only other stock that did “decent”, Hormel Foods Corp.(NYSE:HRL), which slipped just 13 cents to $36.25, which of course is the maker of Spam.
Spam Musubi is so Ono.
The Rest is Up to You…
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA The Seventh Letter
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Rick James – Ghetto Life lyrics:
When I was a young boy
Growing up in the ghetto
Hanging out on corners
Singing with the fellas
Looking for the cute chicks
Trying to find a bit of fun
Looking for some trouble
Or anyone who’ll give me some
When I was a young man
Kind of free and fancy
Met this little cute girl
She said her name was Nancy
She had pigtails to her shoulders
She couldn’t have been much older
She taught me what I had to know
To make a girl not want to go
She was very kinky
In the ghetto
She laid her pigtails down on me
In the ghetto
And I was feeling oh so sneaky
In the ghetto
I had to see what love could be
In the ghetto
Police believe the man broke into the gallery in the middle of the night May 22 by breaking a glass by the rear courtyard door. He took two framed Picasso etchings, ”Jacqueline Lisant” and ”Le Repas Frugel”, valued at $145,000 and $395,000.
He then tried to sell one of the paintings to a California art dealer, authorities said.
The owner of the Gallery Biba got a call from the California art dealer about an offer to purchase Le Repas Frugel. When the dealer checked the Art Loss Registry, she found that it was stolen.
The Suspect shipped her the painting.
The California art dealer told police said she had previously purchased another painting from the suspect which was stolen from a gallery in Washington D.C.
“Le bassin aux nymphéas,” or “Water Lily Pond,” sold for 40.9 million pounds (51.7 million euros, 80.5 million dollars) at Christie’s in London by an unidentified woman in the front row.
This piece was part of a four-work collection of water lily paintings Monet busted out.
The painting fetched a pretty heavy price since it had previously sold purchased in a 1971 New York auction for $320,000. It had remained in private hands since.
This painting shattered the auction record for the French impressionist artist. Last May, “Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil” sold for $41.4 million.
Monet painted the masterpiece at his crib in Giverny in 1919, and it is one of four that he signed and dated that year.
Of the other three, one is kicking it in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, another has been divided, while the third is in private hands.
The art world keeps on plugging away despite the weak world economy.
