THE BBC HAS CONFIRMED THE WANTON DESTRUCTION OF A PIECE OF BANKSY STREET ART!
We regret to report that an original piece of Banksy street art was painted over by no less a personage as American actor Christopher Walken in the final episode of the BBC's 'The Outlaws'. The US actor stars in a BBC comedy-drama about a group of unlikely misfits completing community service.
The show is set in Bristol where the mysterious artist Banksy is also from.
In the closing scene of The Outlaws series finale, the cast were seen painting over a graffiti-covered wall.
Walken’s character Frank, finds a stencilled rat sitting on two spray cans and asks his probation officer if he should paint over it, as it’s “awfully good”.
She tells Frank that he should paint over all the artwork, and so the rat is covered up. (The rat of course symbolising Banksy himself!)
A BBC spokesperson later said that the rat painting covered up in the episode was an original Banksy.
Uh?? But why?? Why so contemptuous?? Because it's just graffiti in their view??
The BBC in a statement said, “We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it!" The art work may have been part of Banksy's Great British Spraycation.
While, I as the editor of this website, am outraged by this philistine disregard for a famous and very nicely executed piece of street art, at the same time, it is simply more exposure and publicity for this interesting artist, of whom I am a big fan. I hope prices for his work will now shoot up in price even more and put the BBC to shame for their cavalier attitude.
UPDATE:
People in the know have informed me that Banksy was actually in on it, which I am very relieved to hear. (What a geezer, eh!). My apologies to the BBC for misjudging them.
Read the New York Posts article: