Not London, but perhaps of interest to fans of street art / that horrible mess spread over our perfectly good walls:
A large wall mural by "guerrilla artist" Banksy has been mistakenly painted over by a council's graffiti-removal contractors. The valuable 25ft-long artwork, on the side of garages in Bristol, was covered with a coat of thick black paint. Bristol City Council said it wanted an investigation into the blunder. The council has ordered all Banksy works in the city to be preserved. Someone has now sprayed the words "Wot no Banksy?" over the obscured work.
Oops. They were supposed to paint over the graffiti adjacent to the Banksy work and before you can say collateral damage the deed was done. Of course it seems pretty arbitrary which paint gets to stay and which gets covered over...
Related Bristol news mentions the Banksy work for sale that comes with a free house and the outcry of local support when it was feared that mural was about to get the council treatment.
Do these Bristoleers care more about their Banksy than we do? Maybe...
a London council has admitted street cleaners accidentally washed off two Banksy murals, including one of a girl in a frilly dress wearing a gas mask, from the side of a building.
The real art lovers are in Liverpool though:
In November 2006, a gang of thieves dressed as council workmen stole a Banksy piece painted on the door of a derelict building in Liverpool
Is anyone keeping track of all the London Banksy in the wild? If only there was a way to tag it...
Thanks to Stu for sending in the link
