"Some Powerful Lessons!" - The Art of the Deal
Video Shows Banksy Covertly Hauling in $420 at a Central Park Stall
Original Banksy canvasses were sold in Central Park for $60 each (worth approx. $20k each) as part of his month-long residency.
The best sale this weekend was in Central Park—and most of New York missed it.
On Saturday, British street artist Banksy set up a stall just outside the park where he sold signed canvases of his spray-paint images for $60 each. The artist, whose past works have sold in the hundreds of thousands, sold eight paintings for a total of $420.
Banksy, who uses a pseudonym and hasn't revealed his identity, is used to better prices. At a February Sotheby's auction in London, a Banksy work sold for about $617,000; In 2008, one went for $1.87 million.
Banksy's Latest Canvas: New York City
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Isabelle Lu, 3, and her sister Rebecca, 5, on Monday in front of a new piece by street artist Banksy in Queens.
Banksy, the secretive British graffiti artist, is in residency on the streets of New York City, creating different works of art every day throughout October. Fans are using social media to locate and promote each piece as they pop up. Photo: AP
The artist has taken over the city in a monthlong "residency" he calls "Better Out Than In," during which new works have cropped up in public spaces from Midtown to Red Hook. Last week, he painted a priest on a concrete block in Manhattan, installed a mural of galloping horses on the Lower East Side, and sent a delivery truck full of stuffed farm animals through the Meatpacking District.
Photographs of the work appear on the artist's website, along with satirical "audio guides" for some of the pieces. Fans following the project have been spreading word through social media of new locations marked by the artist, though some works have lasted just hours before being altered or painted over.
On his website, the artist posted a picture of the Central Park stall cluttered with small black-and-white canvases and a sign that read "Spray Art." "Yesterday I set up a stall in the park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases. For $60 each," a caption beneath the image explains.
A video posted to the site shows an older man in a white cap and sunglasses manning the stand as New Yorkers pass by. The video said that the vendor made his first sale at 3:30 p.m., to a woman who bought two canvases for her children—after negotiating a half-off deal. A woman from New Zealand bought two canvases as well (at full price), and a man from Chicago bought four. "I just need something for the walls," the video quotes him as saying.
A note on the site let fans know not to expect the stand again. "This was a one off. The stall will not be there again today." By Monday, the artist had already posted a picture of his new work, on a brick wall in Queens. It depicts a man holding a bucket and a sponge, scrubbing off a line in red script: "What we do in life echoes in Eternity."
A version of this article appeared October 15, 2013, on page A25 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Banksy Pops Up in Central Park.
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