Accidental Destruction of Banksy Art

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Sep 8th 2009 at 6:01AM

The Hackney Council of Stoke Newington, England just made a big mistake: it painted over a mural featuring a spoof image of the Royal Family by graffiti artist Banksy. The owner of the building on which the mural was painted, Sofie Attrill, agreed to have the mural painted so it could be used on the cover of the band Blur's 2003 single Crazy Beat. And for six years, it sat there, attracting plenty of attention.

When she saw the Banksy artwork partially covered in black paint, however, Attrill was moved to tears – a feeling ostensibly made worse by the fact that the workers were smiling as they covered the (once) priceless creation. Working with a crowd that had gathered, Attrill was able to get the painters to stop before they covered the mural completely.

The Hackney Council claimed to have had permission because it sent letters to Attrill and received no reply. Then, it sent an enforcement notice and again heard nothing. Unfortunately, they sent them to an address she used 25 years ago.

At first, the Hackney Council offered no apology. When it realized its error, though, it began to talk to Attrill about ways to resolve the situation.

[Photo of the Stoke Newington mural unavailable]

Tags: art, artist, artwork, banksy, banksygraffiti, england, mural, muralprojects, murals, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom