A painting by Banksy of a judge using a gavel to beat a helpless protester appeared on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice before quickly being covered up by guards.
Banksy confirmed the artwork was his by posting a picture of it on Instagram on Monday morning. Local workers said security guards were in position in front of the artwork, which is thought to be a reference to pro-Palestine protests.
One, Matteo, said he passed by at 8.30am on Monday when the guards were trying to stop people from taking pictures. More staff then arrived with supplies to cover it up.
This is my favourite Banksy so far. The conundrum going on right now about potentially:
- washing off artwork worth tens of millions
- removing a section of the 140 year old building
- covering the artwork
- protecting it behind plexiglass
There are a team of people going through a lot of stress right now, and pretty much everyone not rooting for the plexiglass is letting everyone else know what an arsehole they are.
Agreed. Went to a banksy display in the Philippines early this year and having not engaged too much with the art, it became obvious that any of his pieces are now so meta that the scenarios you describe are basically how anyone addresses anything he does. And the vast majority of those involved didn’t even think of the original meaning of the piece, which I guess is part of the point as well.
Great marketing and great promotion!
No better way to promote an image or idea than to try to publicly cover it up and stop people from seeing it.
If they had just left it alone, not said a thing, let the image stay up without protest and not say a thing about it … no one would have heard about it or cared.
Nice job Banksy, you’re doing the Lord’s work!
The idea no one would have heard about it is slightly laughable. It’s a Bansky, it’s going to get press however you treat it.
The Streisand Effect
The more you act on it and stop people from trying to see it … the more attention you draw to it.
Banksy is famous, I agree, but as soon as you put them on a headline saying that officials are trying to block the image, the more popular it becomes.
I know the US is arguably most famous for fascism right now, but wtf is going on over there in the UK?
I can protest here in the US all I want still, despite Mango Moussolini.
I know the US is arguably most famous for fascism right now, but wtf is going on over there in the UK?
Fascism
I can protest here in the US all I want still, despite Mango Moussolini
Guess you’re not in Florida, or Texas, or Atlanta, or LA, or at a college, or at any of the many other places in the US where they’ve effectively criminalized free speech that the powerful don’t like…
In case you’re genuinely out of the loop, here’s a quick recap:
- UK ships supplies for the Israeli army
- Group called Palestine Action decides protesting is not enough, commits to sabotage
- UK declares Palestine Action to be a terrorist organization
- Protesters voicing/showing support for Palestine Action get arrested on terrorism charges
So now, if you want to get arrested in the UK, you only need a piece of paper and four words: “I support Palestine Action”. It’s really that easy to become a terrorist these days. It used to be you needed to bomb a pub for that, or at least be somewhere in the relative proximity when somebody else did it.
Covering it up? This calls for another painting.
Not covering it up? Believe it or not, another painting.
Being inspired by it and changing your ways? Another painting, but by Banksy’s less edgy cousin Cred Onion
That’s such a brutal image, I love it.
