The artwork, which depicts a posh young schoolboy spray-painting the phrase “Ghetto 4 Life” while a butler holds a tray of spray cans, was removed from the Melrose building at 651 Elton Avenue as part of the structure’s demolition to make space for a charter school.

The relocation of the mural, part of Banksy’s “Better Out Than In” residency in New York in October 2013, has stirred strong emotions among Bronx locals, with many lamenting the loss of a piece considered a source of community pride.

“Everybody was crying around here. This is art,” Steve Jacob told The New York Post. “The gentleman made it for us, the community. I’ve lived all my life in the Bronx, and this was made for the Bronx people. And now someone’s taken it away from us.”

Despite the efforts of the building’s owner, David Damaghi, to keep the mural within New York City, including offers to local schools and institutions like MoMA, it was ultimately decided to relocate it to 800 Union Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which the New York Daily News identified as owned by Kiumarz Geula of Pillar Property Management.

In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, Banksy said he didn’t think much about when his tags and murals are removed, “but for the art form as a whole it’s unhealthy. When you paint illegally you have so much to contend with—cameras, cops, Neighborhood Watch, drunk people throwing bottles at your head—so adding “predatory art speculators” to the mix just makes things even harder.”

A representative of Fine Art Shippers, who were hired to transport the work, told ARTnews the move to Bridgeport is temporary. “It is uncertain whether it will be sold or moved again in the future.”

Despite Banksy tagging buildings across the globe, some of which lead to million dollar sales of buildings and the removal of the murals, his true identity remains a mystery. A recently unearthed BBC interview from 2003 identified him as an artist named Robert Banks, however, there are other theories.

The recent absence of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, from the public eye following a reported abdominal surgery has led to a deluge of conspiracy theories. On February 27, X user @LMAsaysno posted “not a single banksy since kate middleton disappeared. coincidence?”

The announcement from Art UK, made on February 6, said that the murals documented by volunteer researchers and photographers will include a large number of painted works, as well as sculptural murals made of concrete, brick, wood, stone, tile, and other materials.

Some of the works by the infamous street artist Banksy will also be included in the project, according to The Art Newspaper. The Art UK database already has a photograph of Escaping Convict at Reading Gaol, a spray-painted image of an inmate escaping from a now-defunct prison using knotted sheets of paper spooling from a typewriter. According to Art UK, the brick wall in Berkshire allegedly shows “a depiction of Oscar Wilde who was incarcerated in Reading Gaol for two years in 1895.”

In its announcement, Art UK noted how “buildings and housing estates are demolished to make way for new developments meaning that many murals have been lost. We will record the murals as they look now, to provide a record if they are removed, defaced, or suffer environmental damage.”

Murals by Banksy often receive press attention when they are damaged, defaced, and/or removed, such as the case of the 20-foot seagull in Suffolk, Valentine’s Day Mascara in Margate, and Morning is Broken on a 500-year-old farmhouse in Kent demolished in March last year.

The Art Newspaper also reported that many murals in Northern Ireland are also expected to be digitized by the Art UK project, but that documenting them will require “particular sensitivity” due to the decades of “violent unrest between Catholic and Protestant communities, known as the Troubles”.

This three-year initiative will also include a wide variety of programming, including artists workshops, audio descriptions for blind and partially sighted people, mural trails, as well as learning resources for teachers.

Art UK’s project partners are CultureStreet, an educational film-making organization; and VocalEyes, a UK arts charity focused on identifying and removing barriers to access and inclusion for blind and partially sighted people.

Funding for the project, which runs until December 2026, comes from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and Historic England.

The suit was filed by Danish street artist Patrick Griffin in California’s Central District and first reported Monday by Hyperallergic. Griffin’s brother Sean tagged under the name “Nekst” and achieved no small degree of attention from New York’s spray-paint and streetwear underground; the Houston Press called him “the most successful Houston artist that most outside of the graffiti world have never heard of.” He died in 2012.

The crux of the suit comes from Guess’s alleged use of both Sean Griffin’s tag and that of another street artist, Robin Ronn, who signed work as “Bates.” The tags appear to be interspersed with a mishmash of streetwear iconography: cassette tapes, street signs, graffiti, and, of course, a spray-painted version of the Guess logo.

According to Hyperallergic, Macy’s, one of the many vendors selling the graffiti-inspired clothing and named in the lawsuit, has pulled the product from their website, though the line is still available on Amazon.com, and the shirts in question can still be found online.

“GUESS has inexplicably, and without notice, let alone consent, prominently splashed [the artist’s] work across their apparel in a transparent effort to lend credibility and an air of urban cool to their apparel by coopting the Plaintiffs’ special combination of graffiti style and street art bona fides,” the complaint reads.

Jeff Gluck, a lawyer for the artists, told Hyperallergic that Guess’s use of the tags was “just mechanical, verbatim reproductions of the actual tags, the actual artist signatures.” 

In 2022, the most famous, and anonymous, street artist, Banksy, accused Guess of illegally using his work and, in a since-deleted Instagram post, suggested his 11.5 million followers should shoplift from a London Guess location on Regent Street. “They’ve helped themself to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?” the post read.

At the time, Guess said the Banksy capsule collection was “inspired by” the artist’s work. In reality, the collection was a partnership with a company called Brandalised, “whose mission is to offer Banksy fans affordable graffiti collectibles.”

“The graffiti of Banksy has had a phenomenal influence that resonates throughout popular culture,” Guess Chief Creative Officer Paul Marciano said in the press release. “This new capsule collection with Brandalised is a way for fashion to show its gratitude.”

Brandalised sells greeting cards emblazoned with Banksy’s “Flower Thrower” image; it tried, and succeeded, in convincing the European Union Intellectual Property Office that Banksy was not the ‘unquestionable owner’ of his works. Others have tried to argue a similar case, but without much success.

It’s likely the case will last a while. Gluck told Hyperallergic that this lawsuit could spark action among the street art community. “Several other artists have come forward since this lawsuit was filed saying that they have some graffiti and some tags on Guess shirts as well,” he said.

Guess did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.

The work, a stop sign decorated with what appears to be a trio of military drones, was stolen just one hour after the street artist posted an image of the work to Instagram on December 22.

A man referred to only as Alex told the Sun that two people, using a Lime bicycle as a makeshift ladder, removed the street sign with bolt cutters after one of the two “bashed it with his hands” in a failed attempt to remove the sign from its post.

“I opened Instagram and I saw it was posted four minutes before and I was about to go on my lunch break,” Alex told the Sun. “There were about two people there when I got there. We were all sort of admiring it and taking pictures.”

The alleged crooks stole the work at around 12:30 p.m., in full view of the crowd that had gathered to admire the mysterious Banksy’s newest work. Images of the two men, unmasked and in plain view, were posted to the tabloid’s website.

The first arrest came the following day when London’s Metropolitan police took a man into custody on suspicion of theft and criminal damage. The second arrest was made on Sunday.

While Banksy himself never explains the art he installs under the cover of night, much of what his work has an overt antiwar message. Some of the artist’s more than 12 million Instagram followers have viewed the drone-emblazoned stop sign as a call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Banksy and his artwork often make headlines. Earlier this year, his possible identity was revealed in a recently uncovered, decades-old interview on the BBC, and there has been news coverage about his artworks being removed, demolished, or restored throughout 2023.

After images of the stop sign were posted on Banksy’s popular account (which has 12.1 million followers), commenters immediately responded that it would soon be taken and sold online.

Around 12:30 p.m., two people used bolt cutters and a Lime bicycle to remove the artwork. A witness named Alex told the Sun that one of the people initially tried hitting it with his hands and fell off the bike before returning with the bolt cutters.

The incident follows several other times Banksy has been in the news this year. A mural on Valentine’s Day about domestic violence prompted the removal of a chest freezer twice, a couple discovered a large seagull painted on their home would cost $250,000 to remove, a 500-year-old farmhouse with a large Banksy mural of a young boy was demolished in March, and a damaged mural in Venice painted in 2019 will be restored through private funding. Banksy’s identity was also recently revealed through an archival interview with the BBC.

It first appeared on the wall of the Castle Amusements building in 2017, shortly after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.

In 2019, after the mural had become a tourist draw for Dover, a major port and entryway to the European Union, it was painted over with whitewash. The town’s leadership discussed the possibility of trying to restore the mural, but ultimately chose to demolish the building as part of a major development project comprised of “cultural and community engagement facilities, as well as residential dwellings.”

A spokesperson for the Dover City Council (DDC) told CNN that “prior to authorising the demolition, and having taken professional conservation advice, [the] DDC determined that the Banksy could not be viably conserved without considerable costs to local taxpayers, even if it were technically possible.”

The spokesperson said further that DDS Demolition, the project’s contractor, was attempting to conserve any parts of the Banksy artwork that it could, having already successfully removed stars and a section of the man and the ladder.

In a statement on the development project, the DDC said it was not involved in covering up the mural in 2019.

Now, an unearthed BBC recording from 2003 appears to confirm that Banksy is indeed a Robert, just not Del Naja. 

In an interview between the up-and-coming street artist and former BBC arts correspondent Nigel Wrench, ahead of Banksy’s Turf War show in East London in the summer of 2003, Wrench asked if he could use Banksy’s real name in the interview, citing that The Independent had already used it. Wrench then asks if his name is “Robert Banks,” and the artist replies, “It’s Robbie.”

An edited version of the recording had recently been used as part of the BBC podcast series The Banksy Story, which was released in July. Wrench, after listening to the podcast series, was inspired to revisit the full original recording and discovered the pivotal information about the artist that was never used.

In the newly surfaced interview a young Banksy also speaks about whether graffiti should be considered vandalism. “If it’s done properly it is illegal! But I got a good reaction I think off most people from my work. You know, I’ve even had policemen in the past say they kind of like things about it, but… I just think it’s my right to go out and paint it,” he says. 

“And it is equally somebody else’s right to go out and paint over it if they don’t like it, you know? It doesn’t actually take very long with a bucket of white paint to paint over things. I think it’s better if you treat the city like a big playground, you know? It’s there to mess about in, you know?”

The lost audio portion can now be heard on The Banksy Story bonus episode, which was released on Nov. 21 and available on BBC Sounds.

Politics often play a role, as has been the case with the many recent protests led at museums by climate activists around the world. Personal interests often can become paramount as well, as they have with a variety of young provocateurs who have targeted others’ artworks, sometimes even as part of their own art practices.

In each case, however, the base motive remains the same: to raise a ruckus by disturbing the look or reputation of art people know all too well.

On Monday, two activists were arrested at London’s National Gallery after attacking The Toilet of Venus by Diego Velázquez “with what appeared to be emergency rescue hammers,” the British institution said in a post on X.

Below, a look at 26 instances of art-world vandalism, from religious iconoclasms to the climate protests that are still unfolding.

Vittorio Sgarbi, an undersecretary in Italy’s culture ministry, said in a statement that the restoration will be funded by an “important bank.” A press conference scheduled for today and dedicated to the subject was canceled without elaboration. ARTnews has reached out to the ministry for comment, however Sgarbi’s office told the Art Newspaper that the restoration will proceed.

The mural, titled Migrant Child (2019), is painted on the wall of a building along the Rio Novo canal, in the heart of Venice’s Dorsoduro district. It depicts a child holding up a flare and wearing a life vest. The mural appeared overnight between May 2019, and is just one of two works attributed to the anonymous British street artists in an Italian city. 

Migrant Child has become a popular tourist attraction, but years of exposure to the damp environment has caused significant damage. The situation prompted arguments among the city’s locals and the larger art community in Italy over whether it should be allowed to gradually fade. Critics were divided over the fundamental purpose of street art: wasn’t its ephemeral nature the point? 

Per Italian law, decisions regarding public art made less than 70 years ago do not fall under the jurisdiction of the state body that oversees heritage preservation.

“I take the responsibility for this restoration given that contemporary art is part of my remit, and it is my job to protect it,” Sgarbi said in the statement, adding that the ministry is not interested in “whether the artist is alive or even if he gives us his permission to conduct the restoration, given that, among other things, the mural was created illegally.”

The Headlines

THE ETERNAL RODENT. Rome began addressing a rat problem around the Colosseum by staging what the city’s head of garbage collection, Sabrina Alfonsi, called a “special intervention,” Reuters reports. That includes setting traps and removing trash. BBC News reports that Alfonsi said that the rats have been congregating near the ancient site, in part, because of garbage left by tourists, which has increased in quantity with the heat wave. Fun fact: There are believed to be around 7 million rats in the Italian capital and 2.87 million human residents. (If everyone would just step up and adopt two or three rats, this problem would be solved.) The special sanitary measures continue this week.

BOFFO BANKSY BOX OFFICE. Banksy’s 10-week show at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Scotland, has drawn 180,000 visitors, which is a record for the museum, BBC News reports. On Fridays and Saturdays, it has been staying open through the night, until 5 a.m. the next morning, which has helped bring in people. Titled “Banksy: Cut and Run,” the exhibition is the street artist’s first official solo show in 14 years, and it closes today. It seems that it will travel, the Independent notes. A text on the exhibition’s official website reads, “We want to take this show on the road but have no idea where to go next. Do you?” It asks people to send specific suggestions. Shoot your shot!

The Digest

Micha Winkler Thomas has been named deputy director of the Harvard Art Museums. She is coming from the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., where she is now deputy director for strategy and chief operating officer. [The Harvard Gazette]

For at least the 18th time, South Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration is calling on a man to hand over an important ancient book that was donated to the state but that he is believed to possess. Two searches of his home and office have not located the volume, which may have been damaged in a fire. [The Korea Herald]

Artist Yue Minjun’s debut NFT collection hauled in more than $1 million in the first two hours it was available for purchase, with all of the material selling. [ArtAsiaPacific]

The acclaimed Seattle chef Grayson Corrales will begin running the Frye Art Museum’s Café Frieda in October, serving some of the dishes from her popular Galician spot, MariPili Tapas Bar. [The Seattle Times]

In a letter to the editor, a resident of Buffalo, New York, praised a guard and the director of the city’s AKG Art Museum for their efforts to locate her purse, which she misplaced while attending a jazz concert there. In the end, Apple’s “Find My iPhone” feature came through. [The Buffalo News]

The Kicker

THE BRITISH EMPIRE. The London-headquartered White Cube gallery is readying locations in Seoul (in September) and New York (October), and its founder, Jay Jopling, got the profile treatment from Jay Cheshes in WSJ. Magazine. Among the artists weighing in on the dealer are Anselm Kiefer, Theaster Gates, and Tracey Emin. Emin said that, when she met Jopling more than 30 years ago, “I must have been the only woman in the art world at the time not to fancy Jay.” She will have the New York space’s first solo show, in November. [WSJ. Magazine]