Stealing a Banksy in Detroit

If we’re voting, I say the 555 were in the right.

At least I find what they did a lot less egregious that what art dealers used to do in the subways of New York, collecting the works of Keith Haring and selling them for tons of money.

I’m still contemplating this, in part because of mention that there is no intent to hoard/sell, but I do lean on the other side. There are other precedents at stake. Such as: who else could claim this “authority” in the future? And, as mentioned, how much does the location play into the display as a whole?

I found it to be a beautiful sentiment among such severe wreckage. What other sentiments are at stake?

As it’s all built around vandalism, it’s kind of hard to be judgmental. I’m not angry with 555 now, but I reserve the right to change my mind later, if I hear that they’ve sold the piece to a private collector.

Kim, I agree. The piece in it’s original location called attention to that notion.

I think I’m against their moving it. Sure they might not sell it, but ‘keeping it on display for all’ presumably means keeping it in their own gallery so that people will come in to see it. I mean it’s better than the guy that went around splashing paint on Banksy and other artists’ work, but it still ain’t right. Why not take some high quality photographs of the piece in its original site and hang that in your gallery instead?

so its ok for a gallery to get PR and gain massive amounts of attention and invite people to view it at THEIR gallery when they dont even represent the artist? no, no its not. i call bullshit on anyone claiming this isnt just greed masked under noble intention. its been taken out of its desired context and is therefore useless. would you take an warhol out of a gallery and put it in the street because YOU think it will be safer? no, because the warhol belongs in the gallery just like the banksy belongs in the “street”…after all he DID put it there and not in 555 gallery.

this is a non-profit gallery whos very own mission statement is to nurture LOCAL artists. why then would you take a well established famous foreign artists work out of the place he put it and bring it to your gallery? the very nature of the work welcomes the possible decay or defacing of it…its part of the life and personality of his work.

“preserve” lol…

OK, I’m being swayed.

It was wrong for the gallery to move the painting. Part of the impact of this piece of art is the surroundings that the artist choose to paint it in and on. To remove it is to remove the impact of the work itself. If the painting was left where the artists intended it to be then interested people would make the trip to see it, and then perhaps that trip would wake more people up to the plight of Detroit and perhaps it would spur a clean up or revitalization of the area. I think removing it removes the artist original intend.
The gallery could have easily screwed a high quality plexi glass cover onto the cement in order to preserve the painting in it’s original location.

Speaking of Art, has anyone else seen the TV commercial for the new reality show that’s purpose is to pick the “Best Artist”? What self respecting artist would participate in that kind of show…not any good ones I know. Makes my stomach turn.

A followup piece in the Freep shows just how messy a question this is:

Detroit officials seek Packard plant owners: Lawsuit may reveal persons who can be accountable for site

Detroit –The city is promising to force the owners of the decrepit Packard Motor Car Co. plant to demolish or secure it, bolstered by a new court filing that provides clues about the owner.

Bioresource Inc. sued 555 Nonprofit Studio and Gallery on Tuesday, asking a judge to force it to return a mural by famed graffiti artist Banksy that it removed from the plant. In the lawsuit, Bioresource Inc. claimed it owns the Packard Plant and that Romel Casab is the company’s president.

Casab has been rumored to be owner of the plant for years. But prior to the lawsuit, the only owner or agent of Bioresource on record was Dominic Cristini, who is in prison in California on Ecstasy charges.
…
Casab said Thursday that city officials “would have to prove it,” but didn’t clarify what he meant. When asked by a reporter if he is the owner of the plant, he said, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
…
State records show Bioresource dissolved in 2003 and that’s its last agent was Cristini.

The ownership of the Packard plant has been in dispute for years.

So we have a business that doesn’t exist, filing suit in the name of a guy who denies involvement, against some guys who removed a piece of graffiti from a collapsing factory that nobody really knows who owns. And the suit claims, what, that these guys vandalized this property by removing a piece of prior vandalism, when the mere ownership of the property itself is perhaps the largest act of vandalism is metro Detroit?

Totally awesome.

The second piece that Banksy did in Detroit is now up for auction on Ebay.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100810/ENT05/100810041/1319/Once-in-Packard-Plant-Banksy-work-on-eBay

The court case over this piece appropriated by the 555 is getting national press coverage.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704071304576160544164062176-lMyQjAxMTAxMDEwMTExNDEyWj.html

OK, now they’re selling it.

Now the folks at the nonprofit gallery, which survives on a slim budget of $70,000, want to sell the valuable 1,500-pound cinder-block wall to finance new education programs, provide more studio space and ultimately invest more in budding local and visiting artists, volunteers said publicly for the first time in an interview with Motor City Muckraker.

“The Banksy isn’t our identity,” volunteer executive director and co-founder Carl W. Goines told us. “Our focus has always been on giving artists and others an opportunity to create and grow. We can better serve the community that way.”

Read more:
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2014/03/07/banksy-mural-for-sale-detroit-gallery-offers-up-rare-find/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motorcitymuckraker%2FOudx+%28Motor+City+Muckraker%29

It’s going up for auction in LA.

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2015/07/30/packard-banksy-headed-for-la-auction-block

It sold at auction for $137,500 at auction in Los Angeles.

Southwest Detroit’s 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios sold the piece after displaying it for years at its Vernor Highway art space.

The gallery now plans to use the proceeds from the sale to start the transformation of a 30,000-square-foot building on Detroit’s east side into its new art space.

“It was lower than some of the estimates, but we’re really happy with what we have,” said Carl Goines, co-founder of 555 Arts, who was in Los Angeles for the auction.

“… It’s been a long journey and an experience having the piece.”

After the stenciled mural was carved out from among the crumbling walls of the sprawling former auto plant and transferred to the gallery, there was heated debate in Detroit’s art community about whether it should have remained in the environment it was created.

Gallery supporters insisted they excavated the piece to protect it, and initially said they had no plans to sell it.

But Goines said the need to create a permanent space for artists without the burden of rising rental rates in the city sparked the decision to sell the mural.

Attributed to the elusive British street artist known as Banksy, the work known as “I remember when all this was trees” sat on display at the Southwest Detroit gallery for several years after the group settled a lawsuit raised by the former owner of the Packard Plant.

Now the group is saying goodbye to the piece, and to its Vernor Highway rental space in favor of a building the organization owns on East Warren Avenue.

“There’s no regrets,” said Goines. “Really, it’s about taking the next steps forward and moving forward in the most positive way possible.”

Julien’s Auctions, which facilitated the sale, described the piece as “one of Banksy’s most poignant examples of American street art.”

The winner bidders were California couple Steven and Laura Dunn, according to David Rudolph, a spokesperson for 555 Arts. The final cost of the piece was listed at $137,500, including a premium charged by the auction house.

Steven Dunn is founder and CEO of Munchkin, a company that sells products for infants and toddlers.

Attending the Wednesday auction was a surreal experience for Goines.

“Going from myself standing in the Packard Plant in a foot of water excavating the piece to now being in Beverly Hills taking part in the auction is a strange experience,” he said.

“I think it all kind of fits artists and Detroit in the end. I couldn’t imagine a better outcome.”

Read more:
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/09/detroit_banksy_mural_sells_for.html