When the enigmatic street artist Banksy He painted a heart -shaped balloon with a blow with a whistle on the wall of a Brooklyn warehouse, the bland brick building was instantly transformed into an artistic destination and on the canvas of an unusual battle of graffiti.
Almost as soon as Banksy He revealed the work back in 2013, an anonymous graffiti artist approached blatantly and painted the phrase “Omar Nyc” in red next to the globe, to dismay the curious.
Days later, someone painted with “Is a Little Girl” signs (“is a little girl”) in white and pink next to the Omar label, followed by an apparently sarcastic phrase in black: “I remember my first label”. Some believe it was the own Banksy who returned to the scene secret to add the replica.
The apparent battle of graffiti did not end there. Another graffiti artist also tried to leave his mark, but the security guards prevented him. Today, the phrase “Shan” is still visible in clear purple paint.
Maria Georgiadiswhose family owned the warehouse now demolished and that ended up removing the piece of wall to preserve the work of art, says that the graffiti pastiche is the quintessence of New York. “It looks like a war,” he said recently. “They are literally facing the wall.”
Works of art to auction
The preserved wall, baptized as “battle to survive a broken heart”, will go auction on May 21 in Guernsey’s, the New York auction house.
Georgiadis, Brooklyn’s teacher, says the sale is bittersweet. His father, Vassilios Georgiadis, directed his roofing company and amusement reduction from the warehouse adorned with the globe.
He died four years ago, at 67, from a heart attack, so part of the benefits of sale will be donated to the American Heart Association.
“It is very significant for us, because he loved it and was full of love,” said Maria Georgiadis on a recent visit to the art warehouse where the piece was saved for more than a decade. “It’s like the bandaged heart. We all have love, but we have all gone through things and we get a whip on and move on, right? I take it.”
The wall section of almost 4 tons and 6 feet tall (3.6 metric tons and 1.8 meters high) is one of the guerrillas works that the famous and reserved British artist made during a residence in New York in 2013.
At that time, Banksy He announced the work with a publication on its website with photos and an recorded audio track, in part, with a squeaky voice induced by the helium.
Banksy may not have painted the response to the labeling
The president of Guerensey’s auction house, Arlan Ettingerhe said it is impossible to know with certainty because Banksy Work clandestinely. But he said that the neatness of the setback and the writing “suggest strongly that it was a kind way of Banksy to put the other artist in his place.”
-Ulrich whitedProfessor of Art History at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), described the work as a “very well executed”, noticeable partly by the decision of Banksy to place it in the port area of Red Hook, in Brooklyn.
“This part of New York was not easily accessible at that time,” he explains by email. “Banksy I wanted people to go to NYC places that they had never seen and also love them. ”
But White He doubted that the additional text was really the work of Banksy, stating that the choice of words and design does not seem to adjust to the style of the artist at that time.
“Call” girl ‘a graffiti artist is not something that Banksy I would have done in 2013. This is misogynist and immature in a sexist way, “he wrote.” Three different sources that do not coincide and three colors – why would he have done that? Too unnecessarily elaborated for no reason. So I think this has been added by another person. “
White He was also ambivalent about the sale, and pointed out that Banksy It does not usually authorize the sale of its street pieces. At the same time, it includes the burden of owners to protect them and maintain them.
“The works of Banksy They must be kept, but for the community for which they were created, “he says.” They should not become merchandise. They are made and designed for a specific place. They are not portable. Not sellable. ”Spokesmen Banksy They declined to comment.
Maria Georgiadis’s brother, Anastasios, said her father also hoped to keep the work on Red Hook after cutting her from the wall and framed in thick steel to save it.
The eldest of the Georgiadis imagined the work as the centerpiece of a commercial and housing complex in the property, a dream that did not come true. Then, the family sold the property.
Ettinger He said it is difficult to determine the price that the work could reach. There are few precedents of the sale of a work of Banksy Of this size, he said.
In 2018, a canvas that was part of the series Girl With Balloon of Banksy It was sold in London for 1.04 million pounds (1.4 million dollars), only to self -destruct famous in front of an astonished crowd in the auction.
Maria Georgiadis said that he hopes whoever buys the Broken heart find the same beauty and meaning that his father extracted from the work.
When Banksy He painted it, the family business was recovering from the destructive floods caused by Hurricane Sandy the previous year. Georgiadis remembers that his father had no idea who he was Banksybut he felt moved by the simple image.
“My father got into the head that Banksy I knew what we had been, “he explains.” He told me: ‘Can you believe it, Maria? It is a heart ‘”.
Fuente: AP.
