Banksy News

The local Trades Union Congress in Haringey has attacked plans for a Banksy mural which first appeared on a wall in the borough to go up for auction in Covent Garden next month.

The Slave Labour Banksy belongs to the people of Haringey not to a wealthy private client. We want the sale stopped and the Banksy back where it belongs in London N22.

Auctioneers Sincura said the mural has "been sensitively restored under a cloak of secrecy", and will go on show alongside pieces by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Mario Testino and Russell Young.

• UK
• Banksy

A Banksy mural which was withdrawn at the last minute from a controversial auction in Miami earlier this year is set to go under the hammer in London next month.

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, was originally sprayed on a north London wall last May, ahead of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The sought-after street artwork disappeared from the side of the Poundland store in February and soon appeared at the US auction, but was withdrawn at the 11th hour after Haringey Council protested.

To the dismay of local campaigners, the work is now up for sale at an auction at the London Film Museum in Covent Garden on June 2 by the Sincura Group.

• UK
• Banksy
• Haringey

A spokesman for Fine Art Auctions (FAA) has confirmed that the Banksy piece Slave Labour and Wet Dog has been removed from the sale.

He said:

Although there are no legal issues whatsoever regarding the sale of lots six and seven by Banksy, Fine Art Auctions Miami convinced its consignors to withdraw these lots from the auction and take back the power of authority of these works.

• UK
• Banksy

The FAA website still featured the mural as lot six in its Modern, Contemporary and Street Art sale tonight.

It appeared that a starting bid of 400,000 dollars (£262,450) had been made before the auction of the art work was halted.

Wood Green councillor Alan Strickland said he was delighted to receive a call from a journalist at the auction who told him that Slave Labour and Wet Dog, a second Banksy painting listed in the FAA catalogue, had been withdrawn from sale.

To have the mural withdrawn from sale at the 11th hour is a wonderful surprise for the community here in Wood Green. It suggests the level of international media attention has had a real impact.

Mr Strickland emailed FAA owner Frederic Thut tonight to ask why the sale of Slave Labour had not gone ahead and if there were any plans to auction it in the future.

• UK
• Banksy

Street artists have repainted the space left by the removal of the Banksy art work "Slave Labour".

These pictures, taken by the Turnpike Art Group, show the new mural and a rat which is believed to be by Banksy.

The art group said that the mysterious artist who painted the rat had been so rushed in their work that they had left behind part of the stencil.

The photographer removed the stencil but said it is "unlikely to end up in a Miami auction house"

• UK
• Banksy

A Banksy mural, which was removed from the side of a Poundland store in North London last week, has been withdrawn from an auction.

• UK
• Banksy

The auction of the Banksy artwork "Slave Labour" has started at a Miami auction house.

The opening bid was for $400,000.

• UK
• Banksy

The auction of the Banksy painting "Slave Labour" is due to get under way at a Miami auction house.

The work is estimated to make between $500,000-$700,000 by Fine Art Auctions Miami.

It is the 6th lot of 117 items up for auction.

• UK
• Banksy

Frederic Thut, an auctioneer with Fine Art Auctions in Miami has called on campaigners to prove their claims that the Banksy art work 'Slave Labour' was taken illegally from a wall in Wood Green.

Mr Thut said that the company would not sell the controversial art work if the community could prove it was stolen.

We heard that some people in England are complaining that the work has been stolen. That is completely incorrect because the work was painted on a private wall and the owner of a private wall can do whatever he wants with his own wall. Maybe the public thinks they own something, but in fact the only owner is the owner of the wall.

We have been contacted by some authorities, and we asked them to give us the proof that this work is illegal to sell. As soon as they do that, we will not sell it because we do not have the right to sell illegally. We are a legal company, and we are proving our responsibility as much as we can. We will not sell this work if there is any legal problem with it.

• UK
• Banksy