Always a lot of mystery behind who is Banksy?
If you have not heard of Banksy, here is a bit of a catch up…. Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director, active since the 1990s. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique.
Banksy’s new online shop, Gross Domestic Product, is now open.
Banksy’s ‘Devolved Parliament’ oil painting, which swaps MPs for Chimpanzees in the House of Commons, sold at auction for almost £9.9m on Thursday October 3
Some of his best known work: <3
What you can get at Banksy’s new store:
Gross Domestic Product – a relatively clever riff on art merch and Brexit’s impact on the UK economy – caused a stir with its famous stab-proof vest (as worn by Stormzy at Glastonbury), Tony The Tiger rug and Massive Attack-esque cushions plopped in an unassuming store front in South London.
Now these items are online and ready to be purchased by fans and thirsty collectors.
The headline-grabbing items are indeed listed, with the vest retailing for £850 and a disco ball made out of a police riot helmet going for £500. Not bad considering the recent action at Southeby’s.
But it appears Banksy and his crew have come up with a mechanism to thwart the dodgy resellers out there: potential buyers must enter a verification process, which includes answering the question, does art matter?
Elsewhere, the more modest Banksy stan can pick up a modified spray can for a tenner and T-shirts for £35.
There’s also cushions, pop art sculptures, mugs, bootleg paintings and defaced TVs, with standard merch made in unlimited quantities and more special items, like a clutch bag made out of a brick, in an edition of one.
A welcome mat with lettering stitched from fake lifejackets sold to refugees and found washed up on beaches in the Med is retailing for £500, with proceeds going to Love Welcomes, a charity working with women in detainment camps in Greece.
The Gross Domestic Product site also contains a link to Bbay, a platform for buying and selling second-hand Banksy art, which will launch soon.
