called in to the andipa gallery yesterday to see the banksy exhibition. it was a bit of a shock. it’s in a very posh street in kensington and there are prices on all the works. screen prints are about £10000 and canvases between £40000 and £70000. banksy is big now – that much is clear! i think i’d pretty much seen everything there as well.

is this exhibition banksy’s idea? or is it the gallery that has collected together banksy works? i think and hope it must be the latter judging by this statement on the web site. looks like he’s been betrayed.

Andipa Gallery does not
represent
Banksy.  The art for sale has been privately sourced, over a period of time, especially for this show.

the image on the front page of banksy’s web site suggests that he isn’t too happy about it. it just feels wrong. i had a weird thought that it’s not too dissimilar to what we have done with christ – he worked on the streets and the church has put him on the walls of ornate cathedrals…

i confess i didn’t like it nearly as much as santas ghetto or other places where i have seen banksy’s work. it would have been better if the prices were not on the works – it just made it too commercial. a price list on request would have at least given the pretence that the spirit of gift was alive but it was dead.

i still love banksy’s work

btw i have a great photo or two of banksy that i am going to be selling as limited edition prints… just kidding – they’re free on flickr!