Tag: Banksy

London Sees Its Best Evening Auction Results in Years

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The October evening sales brought the London auction houses their highest totals in years. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

Sales aren’t just buoyant at Frieze this week—London’s auction houses also saw their strongest results in years, signaling renewed confidence at the top of the market. Kicking off the action, Christie’s 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on October 15 achieved a robust £106,925,400 ($142,852,000), marking the auction house’s best Frieze Week evening sale in more than seven years. The total was up 30 percent from last year, with 92 percent sold by lot and 90 percent sold by value. Katharine Arnold and Keith Gill, vice-chairmen of 20th/21st century art, Christie’s Europe, reported entering the week with confidence and “carefully priced material,” noting a “spirited and well-attended” public viewing at King Street. “We are proud to have realized such a solid outcome during Frieze Week, a moment that highlights the energy and cultural vitality of London’s art scene,” they told press.

Leading the sale was Peter Doig’s monumental Ski Jacket (1994), which sold for £14,270,000 ($19,064,720) against a £6,000,000-8,000,000 estimate after more than 13 minutes of fierce bidding between six contenders. Carrying a third-party guarantee, the painting had been acquired in 1994 by Danish collector Ole Faarup, and 100 percent of the proceeds will now go to his foundation. This unusual arrangement also helped Christie’s secure two additional Doigs, despite the artist having become a rare presence at auction.

With an extensive exhibition history, Doig’s Country Rock (1998-1999) nearly hit seven figures in sterling—though it comfortably did so in dollars—achieving £9,210,000 ($12,304,560). A third, more abstract and heavily textured work, also acquired by Faarup in 1994, sold a few lots later just shy of its high estimate at £635,000. The strong results coincided with the opening of Doig’s new show at the Serpentine in London, further fueling demand.

Christie’s evening opened with a standout result for Domenico Gnoli, whose hyperrealistic painting fetched £977,000, doubling its low estimate. Immediately after, a more impressionistic landscape by René Magritte landed at £762,990—well above expectations—reinforcing both continued momentum for the artist and the broader strength of surrealism. Later in the sale, Magritte’s drawing La veillée (The Vigil) exceeded its £500,000 high estimate, selling for £812,800.

The 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale at Christie’s resulted in several new artist records. Photo: Guy Bell | Courtesy of Christie’s

Picasso, as usual, delivered dependable results, with several works selling above or within estimate, including the £2,002,000 oil and ink on panel Chevalier, pages et moine. The modern and impressionist offerings also performed within expectations, largely due to the quality of the material: a Marc Chagall painting fetched £2,246,000, while a lyrical bucolic scene by Nabis painter Maurice Denis sold for £1,697,000. Meanwhile, a horizontal abstract work by Hurvin Anderson exceeded expectations, fetching £3,222,000.

The sale also set several new world auction records, underscoring the ongoing momentum for women artists and long-overlooked names being rediscovered. Paula Rego’s Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” (1995) soared to £3,466,000 ($4.63 million), setting a new landmark record for the artist. Suzanne Valadon’s Deux nus ou Le bain (1923) followed with a £1,016,000 ($1.36 million) record. Contemporary sculptor Annie Morris’s Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) achieved £482,600 ($644,754), while Danish artist Esben Weile Kjær set his first auction record with Aske and Johan upside down kissing in Power Play at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND (2020), which sold for £25,400 ($33,934).

Among the few unsold works of the night were Yoshitomo Nara’s drawing Haze Days, which failed to find a buyer at its ambitious £6.5-8.5 million estimate, and a gray monochrome by Gerhard Richter—even with the artist opening a major survey at the Fondation Louis Vuitton during Paris Art Week. A black Blinky Palermo also went unsold, while a colorful but slightly less iconic Nicholas Party work, Tree Trunks, was withdrawn ahead of the sale.

Notably, Christie’s reported that 56 percent of buyers in the evening sale came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with only 28 percent from the Americas and 16 percent from the Asia-Pacific region. This confirms revived demand in the regional market, as also evidenced earlier in the day by the heavy attendance at Frieze.

A £17.6M Bacon headlined at Sotheby’s

Led by a £17.6 million Francis Bacon, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction closed at $63.5 million. While the total was less than half of Christie’s the night before, the comparison needs context: this was Sotheby’s third major London evening sale since March—whereas it was Christie’s first of the season. Sotheby’s has already staged two major white-glove sales this year—the £101 million Karpidas collection auction in September and the £84 million Summer Evening Sale—meaning that with last night’s results, the house has now sold £233 million worth of modern and contemporary art in London since March. Moreover, the £63.5 million total marked the highest October evening sale result since 2023, up 25 percent from the previous year.

Since March, Sotheby’s has sold £240 million worth of Modern and Contemporary art in London. Courtesy Sotheby’s

“Frieze is always a special time for London, with so many collectors in town whose presence we always feel in our sales,” Ottilie Windsor, co-head of contemporary art, Sotheby’s London, told Observer. “It was great to have them with us tonight and to see so much live action in the room, helping sustain the strong momentum we’ve built over the past few seasons here.”

The Francis Bacon result came after 20 minutes of suspense and fierce bidding across multiple phone specialists and a bidder in the room, pushing the final price to nearly double its £6-9 million estimate. In U.S. dollars, the hammer plus fees rose to $17.6 million. For comparison, the last notable Bacon—Portrait of Man with Glasses II—sold at Christie’s in March for £6,635,000 ($8.4 million), and that work was almost a third smaller. Another, smaller Bacon, closer in scale to Christie’s example, sold here for £5,774,000 ($7.3 million). Bacon’s record still stands at $142.4 million, set at Christie’s New York in 2013 with his triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud.

The sale opened strong, with solid results for several younger contemporary artists who have recently drawn both market and institutional attention. At lot one, a painting by Ser Serpas landed at £27,940 ($35,700)—just under estimate but still enough to set a new auction record for the artist. The California-born painter, who studied in Switzerland and gained early recognition there, was recently included in a MoMA PS1 exhibition and held a solo show at Kunsthalle Basel during the June fairs.

Two of the hottest rising names in recent auctions—driven largely by Asian demand and limited primary-market availability—followed. An abstract by Emma McIntyre, now a Zwirner favorite, sold for £50,800 ($65,000), and Yu Nishimura achieved the same price. Both works carried estimates of £40,000-60,000, reflecting the tight competition at this level.

In between, a 2009 painting by Hernan Bas acquired from Perrotin sold just above its low estimate, likely to its guarantor, at £254,000 ($323,000). Momentum continued for Lucy Bull, whose kaleidoscopic abstraction from 2021—originally acquired from Paris gallery High Art—more than doubled its top estimate of £500,000 ($635,000), landing at £1,260,000 ($1.6 million) after being chased by five bidders, most from Asia.

Overall, the auction confirmed the ongoing strength of the market for women artists, all of whom sold above estimate. Sotheby’s also posted strong results for Paula Rego: her pastel on paper Snow White Playing with her Father’s Trophies sold within estimate for £900,000 (about $1.15 million), while Jenny Saville’s charcoal study exceeded its high estimate, selling for £533,000 (around $675,000).

Among other notable six-figure results, a monumental El Anatsui sold just shy of its high estimate at £1,999,000 (about $2.53 million). Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (The Arm) from 1982—a pivotal year in the artist’s rise—landed squarely within estimate at £5,530,000 (approximately $7 million). Andy Warhol’s Four Pink Marilyn (Reversal) followed, selling within estimate for £4,326,000 (about $5.5 million).

The masters also held firm. Both of Auguste Rodin’s monumental sculptures from his seminal series The Burghers of Calais sold within estimate to a collector in the room: Jean de Fiennes, vêtu, Grand Modèle achieved £762,000 ($1 million), while Pierre de Wiessant, vita, Grand Modèle, vêtu sold for £889,000 ($1.2 million).

The market for Lucio Fontana also showed signs of recovery—at least for major works. His rare blue 14-slashed Concetto spaziale, Attese sold just above estimate at £2.8 million (about $3.7 million) following a fierce bidding war among four potential buyers. The deep blue of the canvas was inspired by Yves Klein’s IKB pigment—but Klein’s own Untitled Fire Colour Painting (FC 28), which appeared one lot earlier, surprisingly went unsold after failing to meet its £1.8-2 million estimate ($2.3-2.5 million), despite both an irrevocable bid and a guarantee.

Other unsold works of the night included paintings by Frank Auerbach and Daniel Richter. Still, Sotheby’s achieved a healthy 89 percent sell-through rate by lot.

On October 17, Sotheby’s also staged a single-owner sale of 17 iPad drawings by David Hockney from his celebrated series The Arrival of Spring. The results were remarkable: the group doubled its high estimate to reach £6.2 million ($8.3 million), achieving a white-glove sale and setting a new auction record for the artist. With this result, Sotheby’s London has now brought in £240 million (approximately $304 million) since March. Notably, American buyers accounted for 40 percent of the purchasers in the Hockney sale, underscoring the continued global demand for blue-chip British artists.

A £2,374,000 Basquiat tops Phillips’ London Evening Sale

On October 16 at 5 p.m., Phillips hosted its London Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale, achieving a total of £10,332,200 ($13,884,410) across 22 lots. The auction was more modest—and less successful—than the others, posting a 32 percent drop compared to last year after four lots failed to sell and four others were withdrawn before the start. The evening was led by a new auction record for Emma McIntyre: Seven types of ambiguity (2021) sold for £167,700 ($225,355) from a modest £50,000-70,000 estimate, edging past her previous record of $201,600 set in May 2025 at Phillips Hong Kong. The second-highest lot of the night was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pestus) (1982), which comfortably met its pre-sale estimate at £2,374,000 ($3,190,181).

An energetic moment from Phillips’s London Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Courtesy Phillips

Once again, contemporary women artists confirmed their momentum at Phillips, reaching a high point after Emma McIntyre’s record-setting result when Flora Yukhnovich’s My Body knows Un-Heard of Songs (2017) fetched £1,276,000 ($1,714,689) against a £900,000-1,500,000 estimate.

Opening the sale was a purple-and-pink abstraction by Martha Jungwirth—now a familiar presence across Thaddaeus Ropac’s fair booths—which exceeded expectations at £180,600. A few lots later, an early work by Sasha Gordon sold just shy of its high estimate at £116,100. Demand for Gordon has been reignited by her blockbuster solo debut at Zwirner in New York, which made her the youngest artist represented by the mega-gallery. Painted in 2019 during her studies, Drive Through marks a transitional moment in her shift toward the more discursive, cartoon-inflected style that catapulted her into the global spotlight.

Later in the sale, Noah Davis’s Mitrice Richardson (2012) found a buyer within estimate at £451,500 ($606,726), while Derek Fordjour’s Regatta Pattern Study (2020) fetched £528,900 ($710,736), surpassing its high estimate of £500,000. Other notable results included Sean Scully’s Wall of Light Summer Night 5.10 (2010), which achieved £967,500 ($1,300,127) against a £600,000-800,000 estimate, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Gospel Yodel (Salvage Series), which sold for £709,500 ($953,426), more than doubling its £350,000-550,000 estimate. A 2012 sculpture by Bernar Venet fetched £516,000 ($693,401) from a £250,000-350,000 estimate, reflecting the artist’s rising demand—particularly in Asia.

Not everything landed. A Warhol-inspired Banksy portrait of Kate Moss, estimated at £700,000-1,000,000, failed to find a buyer, while a cacophonic abstract work by Sigmar Polke from 1983-84 also went unsold, likely due to its overly ambitious £600,000-800,000 estimate relative to current market demand for the artist.

For Olivia Thornton, Phillips’s head of modern and contemporary art, Europe, the overall positive auction reflected “the vibrancy of contemporary collecting” and reaffirmed London’s enduring magnetism: “London remains the cultural crossroads of the global art market.”

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Elisa Carollo

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October 17, 2025
Banksy tree mural that sprouted in London is fenced off after apparent vandalism

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LONDON – It was nice while it lasted.

An environmentally themed mural by elusive street artist Banksy that appeared last week on a London street has been encased in plastic and surrounded by fencing after an apparent act of vandalism.

The work is on a four-story wall near a public housing project. Beside a real and severely pruned cherry tree, the artist stenciled a small figure holding a pressure hose. Swathes of green paint across the wall stand in for the tree’s absent leaves.

The work quickly attracted crowds including Banksy fans from around the world. Two days later, it was splashed with white paint.

The mural was then covered in transparent plastic by the building’s owner, and a sign appeared saying the area was under video surveillance.

On Wednesday, workers began to erect wooden boards around the site.

The local authority, Islington Council, said it was fencing off the site to protect the art and residents from the impact of visitors.

“We’ve had a lot of concerns from our residents about disruption from the numbers of visitors to the artwork, which is right outside their homes,” the council said in a statement. It said the fencing would include clear plastic panels “to protect the artwork and allow clear views.”

Banksy, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.

His work has sold for millions of dollars at auction, and past murals on outdoor sites have often been stolen or removed by building owners soon after going up. In December, after Banksy stenciled military drones on a stop sign in south London, a man was photographed taking down the sign with bolt cutters. Police later arrested two men on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.

The latest work would be harder to take down since the piece relies on the tree for its impact.

Islington Council said it would monitor the site and “continue to explore future solutions with the building owner so people can enjoy the artwork.”

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Jill Lawless, Associated Press

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March 27, 2024
Protecting Banksy Murals Is a Complicated and Sometimes Costly Matter

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Banksy’s newest mural appeared in London on March 17. Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images

Earlier this week, residents of London’s Islington North area were shocked and delighted to find a mural by the elusive Banksy adorning one of their local buildings. But just two days later, the work was defaced.

This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for the anonymous street artist’s public and occasionally political works. Despite fetching seven-figure sums at auction, Banksy’s art is typically found in vulnerable and open spaces, as opposed to being safely guarded behind museum or gallery walls.

His most recent painting, which depicts vibrant abstract foliage placed strategically behind a barren tree, was vandalized with white paint that appears to have been tossed over the mural. “There’s only one way to describe it: wanton vandalism,” Gil Ben-ari, an 80-year-old Londoner, told the Guardian.

The work was vandalized with white paint shortly after it was confirmed as a Banksy. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Banksy’s creation went up on March 17, with the artist confirming it as his own in an Instagram post the following day. Depicting a stenciled figure holding a paint sprayer, the burst of green paint matches the color used by Islington Council for local street signs. “Banksy has come to Islington!” tweeted Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader and local MP. “What wonderful artwork, proving there is hope for our natural world everywhere.”

The work, which brought an aging and over-pruned cherry tree to life, was painted on a vacant building. Islington Council quickly surrounded the work with fencing, erected cameras and posted Park Patrol officers, but these measures weren’t enough to prevent the subsequent vandalism. “We’re now discussing future solutions with the homeowner, to enable everyone to see the work while protecting it, the tree and the surrounding area,” said the council in a statement. “This is a really powerful piece, and we really hope it’s left alone so that everyone can enjoy it.”

How are Banksy murals usually protected?

Security guards watch over Banksy’s Donkey Documents as it is displayed at the Chelsea Harbour Design Centre in 2015. Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

Due to the monetary and cultural value of his work, security measures have been introduced around several of Banksy’s pieces. After creating a series of murals across Ukraine in 2022 to showcase his support for the nation during Russia’s initial invasion, the Ukrainian government installed impact-resistant glass over the paintings to protect them from natural elements and vandalism. It also added security cameras near works to alert authorities of possible damage or theft.

Similar steps were taken by local authorities after Banksy completed his A Great British Spraycation series throughout England’s Norfolk and Suffolk coast in 2021. In addition to covering his art with clear sheets, the works were protected by security patrols and guards. One mural located on a sea wall was even covered in sealant paint to protect it from water damage. In other cases, homeowners have taken matters into their own hands—in 2013, the owner of a Brooklyn building that was “Banksied” hired his own security guards to look over the work.

Protecting Banksy murals can be expensive. When Garry and Gokean Coutts, owners of a Lowestoft building tagged by the artist as part of A Great British Spraycation, learned they’d need to pay £40,000 ($49,000) annually to maintain it, they instead paid £200,000 ($246,300) to have it taken down. According to the BBC, three local councils spent £20,000 (about $25,000) to protect other Spraycation murals, while another spent £7,610 (about $9,600) on “security patrols, guards and polycarbonate sheets.”

Despite safeguarding efforts, the very nature of Banksy’s work as a form of street art makes it susceptible to numerous damaging elements. His stencils have been occasionally painted over by local authorities looking to clean up graffiti, as was demonstrated by the 2007 covering of his Pulp Fiction painting near one of London’s train stations. Others have been mistakenly ruined. Last year, the artist documented on Instagram how his painting on a dilapidated farmhouse in Kent, U.K., was destroyed by a construction crew as it unknowingly tore down the building.

A Banksy-painted stop sign was stolen by a man with bolt cutters in London on December 22, 2023. PA Images via Getty Images

Banksy’s work is also occasionally defaced by rival graffiti artists. In 2021, for example, a mural located on a former Reading prison was defaced with “Team Robbo” in reference to the late graffiti artist who had a long-running feud with Banksy. And some works are affected by natural elements, such as the artist’s mural located along Venice’s Rio Novo canal, which has been damaged by its constant exposure to a damp environment.

As would be expected with the high sums attached to Banksy’s creations, some of the street art has been victim to theft. Banksy’s most recent work before the tree mural in Islington North appeared in December of last year when a London stop sign was adorned with three military drones. Mere hours after Banksy confirmed the work, onlookers witnessed a person taking down the sign with bolt cutters. Two men have since been arrested in connection with the theft, although the artwork itself remains at large.

While Banksy’s newest art piece has already been damaged, it’s likely safe from robbery. Its very existence points to the artist having “solved an emerging problem” of theft, said James Peak, host of BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story, while speaking on the broadcaster’s Today program. “I don’t think anyone is going to be able to nick this,” he said. “The painted wall is just meaningless paint without the bare branches of the tree—and how are you going to steal a tree?”

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Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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March 21, 2024
A Rare Rediscovered Banksy Heads to Auction

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Banksy, Happy Choppers, (2006). Courtesy Anderson & Garland

A rare work by Banksy, the elusive British artist famed for his humorous and at times political street art, is heading to auction years after it was rediscovered and rescued by a team of restoration specialists.

In 2008, the owner of an office building in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood was flipping through a book dedicated to Banksy’s local work when he recognized his own property in one of the images. After racing down to the building, he found the art had been painted over—but not entirely. A small section of a helicopter propeller from the original work was still visible at the top.

“We were astounded to discover that our newly purchased office building was the canvas for an artwork of this significance,” said the owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, in a statement.

The work was originally painted by Banksy in 2006, as documented by his former manager Steve Lazarides in BANKSY CAPTURED (Volume 1). Entitled Happy Chopper, its depiction of helicopters is a regular motif used by Banksy, who has included the aircraft in past works like his 2003 Wrong War placards. The painting was considered to be a security risk by the building’s former owner, who subsequently covered the work in black paint and neglected to mention its existence when selling the property.

A complicated restoration process

Upon discovering that he was now in possession of a Banksy, the building’s current owner enlisted the Fine Art Restoration Company, a London-based company which had previously restored Banksy works. The restoration process was a complicated one—for starters, Happy Choppers couldn’t be removed as one piece for fear of it breaking apart, and instead was removed from the building in sections. “To our knowledge, no one had attempted to rescue a fragile work of high-profile street art like this before,” said the owner.

Banksy’s medium of spray paint also presented challenges. “As these murals do not use a medium traditionally found in art, our conservators investigated the chemistry of the original pigments and developed new techniques suitable for the safe treatment of aerosol art,” said Chris Bull, director of the Fine Art Restoration Company, in a statement. The year-long process included cleaning pollutants, city air and pests that had contaminated the work’s surface and removing overpaint and local graffiti that had been added on top of the work.

Now, the fully restored painting is ready for a new home. It will hit the auction block later this month when it highlights the Spring Fine Art Auction for Anderson & Garland, an auction house based in Newcastle. Happy Choppers, which contains an estimate of between £500,000 ($633,000) and £700,000 ($886,000), will be on view in the auctioneer’s saleroom ahead of its March 20 sale.

“Previously gracing the side of an office block, it has been painstakingly restored and professionally adapted to domestic proportions,” said Fred Wyrley-Birch, director of Anderson & Garland, in a statement. “We are hoping that institutions will be interested in this important piece so that enthusiasts of Banksy’s work can enjoy it for years to come.”

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Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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March 2, 2024
VESA at Cypher Capital

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Hi fam,

Today we’re celebrating a union that took place recently when VESA travelled to Dubai for a month of meetings, partnership calls, keynotes, and conferences.

A juicy sized catalogue of VESA works moved into the Cypher Capital Hub in October and this time, we want to celebrate this incredible handshake and share the stories behind the artworks you can see on the walls.

In their own words, Cypher Capital is focused on investing in Web3 infrastructure and applications that will drive the digital economy in the future. The Cypher Capital Hub in Marina is shaping up to be one of the sleekest and most functional spots to work, meet and network.

The Hub has always been a place for art, most notably two works by Banksy in the main conference room – now featuring a VESA as well.

Let’s dive into the stories behind the pieces you can see on the walls of the Hub!

Next time you stop by the Hub, please snap a picture of yourself and your favourite VESA work and tag:

Cypher Capital Group / Vesa Kivinen // LinkedIn

Cypher.capital / artbyvesa // Instagram

Refresh has an honorary place at the VIP room alongside two Banksy pieces.

Integration

First VESA piece you see on the wall as you walk into the space is Integration. The piece represents the dichotomy of worldviews present in our society in relationships between men and women. On the one hand women occupy positions of power like never before and work incredibly hard to pursue and execute those positions. On the other hand, there is a view that supports tearing down all structures of hierarchy in capitalism and science, as they are seen as an oppressive force, rather than a liberating one.

Integration was exhibited at Art Dubai 2022 via the Morrow Collective.

Million Dirham Hotel

Residing in the sleek meeting room, is the Million Dirham Hotel. The work is a part of the larger Mirrors- series, which explores value, experiences, and identity. Million Dirham Hotel evokes images of what a hotel with such a high-ticket price would look like. It is an invitation to a world that challenges the ownership vs access paradigm.

The Million Dirham Hotel, like all works in the Mirrors- series entices the viewer with its offering of leveraging IP unseen in the traditional art market. Download the Artivive app and experience the AR version, when you stop by.

Truth or Dare- the Currency of Ganesha

Next to The Million Dirham Hotel is Truth or Dare- The Currency of Ganesh, or Ganesh for short. This work belongs to the pantheon of VESA’s early crypto art, inspired by the thousands of years old Hindu tradition of faith and worldview.

Lord Ganesh is revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and a higher being of intellect and wisdom. In this piece, Lord Ganesh and his entourage have assimilated cryptocurrency symbols and blockchain code alongside traditional wealth displays. Gold, platinum, and diamonds hold a historical place in our minds as keepers of value, but as an example the smart contracts layered on top of Ethereum are building the wealth of today and tomorrow.

Ganesh is probably THE most complicated work VESA has ever made. It took over 2000 layers of photography of individual paintings and other images before Ganesh started taking shape.

Red Eye

Red Eye shows the reality of someone falling into the rabbit hole of crypto. The whirlwind seems endless, and the new information pouring into your consciousness sometimes claims your ability to sleep.

This piece is another one with stunning merits, as it was featured in Forbes in their first ever article on this new movement of art and money in January 2019.

Red Eye was also exhibited at the opening of the immersive Dubai gallery Art In Space. It launces into its AR version via the Artivive app to showcase motion and sound.

Compound Defiance

On the way to the VIP room, you can see Compound Defiance on the wall. This work is steeped in legendary moments and is a part of crypto art history. The fluid motion forming a solid symbolizes the decentralized financial system that has no point of central control and therefore free to define its own rules. This freedom has its positives and negatives, but more options mean a more expansive, rather than repressive experience. The jarring pattern blending endlessly might seem chaotic at first, before the beautiful pattern presents its holistic face.

Compound Defiance was the first artwork used on a street legal NFT VESA Art Car in Dubai and it has a VR version made by Zoan.

Refresh

Residing in the elegant VIP room, is a piece made in honour of the UAE, called Refresh. It was made in 2020 and it represents the forward-thinking, technologically competent, and culturally mesmerizing country in an artistic way.

The round planet in the centre of the piece is Mars, referencing the Emirati space program. Galloping alongside is a tokenized royal horse, modelled after a real-life specimen.

The two people featured are the CEO of the Dubai Blockchain Centre, Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni and his wife, Mariam Al Zarouni. In the artwork, the two are immersed in the Bitcoin genesis code, as they witness the evolution of their country.

Refresh comes alive with the Artivive app. It has an original soundtrack, and it has been exhibited on large stages in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as extensively in crypto media.

Team VESA wants to thank Cypher Capital for showcasing these works!

Until next time,

VESA & Lotta
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
http://linktr.ee/ArtByVesa

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Vesa

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November 25, 2023
Banksy revealed his first name in a lost interview recorded 20 years ago

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Banksy – the elusive but world-renowned artist – has remained anonymous since the 1990s, but the mystery man did divulge his first name once, back in 2003, a previously lost BBC interview has revealed.

In a radio interview with BBC reporter Nigel Wrench, Banksy talks about the quick graffiti skills that have made him famous while simultaneously keeping him anonymous. Wrench asks the artist if he is named “Robert Banks,” to which Banksy replies, “It’s Robbie.”

At the time of the interview, Banksy was promoting his “Turf War” show in a warehouse in London. The radio interview was edited, according to the outlet, so the name reveal was not included when it initially aired.

But Wrench was recently listening to a BBC podcast about Banksy and it reminded him of his 20-year-old interview, according to the outlet. It prompted him to find the full recording at his house, and he uncovered Banksy’s secret reveal. BBC has released a bonus episode of its “The Banksy Story” podcast in light of Wrench’s discovery.

The exhibition “Banksy: Cut and Run – 25 Years Card Labour” was secretly installed at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Scotland.

CBS News

In the 2003 interview, the artist also defended his work, which often involves tagging buildings with graffiti, a method some consider vandalism. “I’m not here to apologize for it,” he said. “It’s a quicker way of making your point, right?”

“In the same way my mother used to cook Sunday roast every Sunday and says every Sunday: ‘It takes hours to make it, minutes to eat,’” he said. “And these days she eats microwave meals for one and seems a lot happier. I’m kind of taking that approach to art really. I want to get it done and dusted.”

Banksy’s art has evolved from graffiti, but still makes waves with its social statements and stunts. In 2018, a framed image created by Banksy was sold at auction for $1.4 million – but it self-destructed. A hidden shredder activated, and the painting was sliced into strips. The crowd at the auction was shocked by the destroyed painting, but the person who bought it went through with the sale.

And in 2021, the shredded remains of that painting were auctioned again, going for a whopping $25.4 million.

Assistants pose by an artwork titled Love is the Bin by British street artist Banksy during a photocall at Sotheby’s auction house in central London on Sept. 3, 2021.

TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

His graffiti recently cropped up across Ukraine amid the war with Russia, including a mural of a boy defeating a bigger man in a karate uniform and an image of a gymnast – both painted on the remains of destroyed buildings.

Who is rumored to be Banksy?

While his art is recognizable, the man himself isn’t – but that hasn’t stopped people from thinking they know his true identity. In 2016, a graduate student in the U.K. named Craig Williams theorized in a blog post that Banksy was Robert Del Naja, a member of the hip hip trio Massive Attack. Del Naja was a graffiti artist known as 3D, who has been linked to Banksy, Williams said.

He said Banksy’s surprise murals often pop up in cities where Massive Attack is touring at the same ti,e – putting Del Naja in the right place to be the artist behind the graffiti. Williams later backtracked and said he thinks Del Naja might be one of several artists who collectively made up Banksy.

Del Naja tried to dispel the rumor at a 2016 concert, reportedly telling the crowd: “We are all Banksy.”

A local resident walks past graffiti on a wall of adestroyed building, drawn in Banksy’s style but its origin unconfirmed by the artist, in the town of Borodyanka on Nov. 12, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images

He later clarified in a statement to the Daily Mail, saying the rumors about his secret identity are exaggerated. “It would be a good story but sadly not true. Wishful thinking, I think,” he said, adding that he and Banksy are friends and the artist had been to some of his shows.

In 2020, rumors circulated on social media that fellow Massive Attack member Neil Buchanan was Banksy, but he denied the claims in a strong statement, according to BBC News.

Myths about the mystery artist have long circulated and in 2004, a photo of a graffiti artist in Jamaica that got widespread attention was rumored to show Banksy at work.

Banksy denied it was him in the photo, but the Daily Mail began an investigation, taking the photo to Bristol, where it is rumored Banksy grew up. They asked people if they recognized the man in the photo – until one person said it could be someone named Robin Gunningham.

The man said Gunningham changed his name to Robin Banks and went by Banksy. Daily Mail said some of the few details Banksy has revealed about his life matched up with Gunningham’s, but his family denied he was Banksy. But earlier this year, the Sunday Times and Daily Mail reported that Gunningham is named as a defendant in a defamation trial against Banksy – which could force him to reveal that he is the artist, if true.

In 2022, a councillor for a small U.K. town resigned after rumors swirled online that he was Banksy, according BBC News. Billy Gannon denied that he was the artist and said the claims undermined his ability to work.

He told the Guardian he believes the rumors were started by a rival council candidate.

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Caitlin O’Kane

Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

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November 21, 2023
The mysteries of Banksy

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The mysteries of Banksy – CBS News

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Putting together the first authorized exhibition in 14 years of works by the anonymous street artist Banksy required extensive planning and a cover story to hide its true identity until it opened, unannounced, in Glasgow this summer. Correspondent Seth Doane explores the art and the mysteries of Banksy’s world, including the continued speculation about the artist’s true identity, a closely-held secret for decades.

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August 13, 2023
Banksy’s Ex-Agent Shares Rare Photos Of ‘Terrible’ First Glasgow Show

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Street artist Banksy’s current “Cut & Run” exhibition in Glasgow may be the hottest ticket in town. But his first show in the Scottish city more than two decades ago didn’t go quite so well.

“It was terrible,” recalled the famed British street artist’s former manager Steve Lazarides, who this week shared with HuffPost a series of newly resurfaced images that he took of the March 2001 event, “Peace Is Tough,” at The Arches.

Banksy’s first show in Glasgow didn’t exactly go as hoped, said the street artist’s former right-hand-man Steve Lazarides.

“It was really, really well put together, a really tight fucking show. It was a magical thing,” Lazarides remembered, saying the art wasn’t the issue.

Promotional problems meant only 25 people came on opening night, said Lazarides. The rest of the run didn’t fare much better, and ultimately it became the only show by Banksy that “wasn’t totally mobbed,” said Lazarides, then a facilitator for the artist who later became his right-hand man until they split in 2008.

“I felt really bad for him,” he said.

Steve Lazarides described the 2001 show at The Arches as “a magical thing.”

The lackluster response to the show prompted the artist to “punish the town,” Lazarides said. “We all got pissed and went to bed,” he said. “He went out. We woke up the next morning, he’d stenciled the whole place.”

Banksy’s original “Flower Thrower” painting was just one of the standout pieces. He shared the bill with Jamie Reid, who created artwork for the Sex Pistols punk band.

The failure of the show “definitely spurred” Banksy on, said Lazarides. “He’s not one to make a mistake twice,” he said. “He’s a quick learner. Not much gets by him. I think it put a bit of grit in him. He never fails. He’s in it to win.”

Steve Lazarides admitted he’d been “totally surprised” by Banksy’s return to Glasgow for the “Cut & Run” exhibition.

That said, Lazarides admitted he’d been “totally surprised” by Banksy’s return to Glasgow.

“It’s like going back to the scene of your biggest failure,” he said.

The motive? “Revenge,” he suggested. “I can’t think of any other reason to do it. They are not the only venue that would have offered him the chance, or maybe, shockingly they are. You never know.”

A poster for Banksy’s 2001 show, which only attracted a handful of guests on opening night.

Banksy’s current Glasgow exhibition showcases his art and stencils from the start of his career, when Lazarides was a key member of his inner circle.

It’s a “roll call” of his work, said Lazarides, who said he was “looking forward” to seeing the show before it ends on Aug. 28.

He said he’ll likely recognize many of the pieces. In 2019, Lazarides released his “Banksy Captured” book of photographs documenting the 11 years he spent working with the artist. He is now reimagining many of those works in different artistic ways.

Banksy went out to “punish” the city with art following the opening night flop, said Steve Lazarides.

Banksy, whose identity has never been officially confirmed, said in publicity for the show that he’d “kept these stencils hidden away for years, mindful they could be used as evidence in a charge of criminal damage.”

Now that the moment appears to have passed, he said he was now “exhibiting them in a gallery as works of art. I’m not sure which is the greater crime.”

A stencil for Banksy’s now-iconic “This Is Not A Photo Opportunity” work.

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July 12, 2023
Some Are Buying The Shards Because They Have To, And Others To Flex Financially

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In yet another instance that very much proves Andy Warhol’s aphorism, “Art is what you can get away with,” the shattering of an expectedly expensive “Dog Balloon (Blue)” by Jeff Koons has turned out to be a collector’s wet dream rather than a tragedy. The decimation of the blue chrome sculpture (crafted from French Limoges porcelain) occurred in, where else, Miami. A place where art is not meant to be appreciated, so much as made into as much of a gimmick as possible (see: the banana taped to a wall at Art Basel that sold for $120,000). So maybe it’s to be expected that some “unassuming” observer at the “VIP art opening” for Art Wynwood would be casual and careless enough to bump into the stand displaying the work. Of course, perhaps it was on the gallery representing the piece, Bel-Air Fine Art, for placing so much faith in the supposed human ability to be graceful and delicate. Least of all around art valued at $42,000.

Although Bel-Air Fine Art could have technically furnished the expensive piece with a vitrine encasement to avert such a disaster, “When something is for sale, they take a chance on it because they don’t want to diminish the spectacular appearance of it to somebody who might be there to buy it.” This said by a security consultant named Steven Keller, who also added, “A lot of times [art gets damaged] because people are not careful enough and because they can be incredibly naïve about art.” Understatement of the century. But at least he was polite enough to use the word “naïve” instead of the more candid “philistine.” The hoi polloi plodding through galleries with their camera phones at the ready for the “perfect” shot or selfie has only added to the risk factor of “art assault” over the years.

With humanity also living in a time when it is assumed that everything is “fake” or “staged” for the sake of some larger “virality scheme,” many at the art fair believed it was another stunt in the style of what Banksy did to one of his own paintings, “Girl With Balloon” (there’s just something about art with the word “Balloon” in the title that makes it ripe for ruin, one supposes). Rigging it to self-destruct (a.k.a. shred itself) if it ever went up for auction, the painting did just that at a 2018 Sotheby’s gathering, where onlookers were treated to the simultaneous delight and horror of watching the work get obliterated. Originally bought for the price of 1.4 million dollars, the destroyed version of itself went for the even higher amount of 25.4 million (the same preposterous increase in value might occur for Koons’ shards as well).

Later, Banksy would quote Picasso on the matter with, “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” But when that urge isn’t calculated at all, as was the case with this klutz (or possibly just another oblivious being) of a woman at the art fair, it becomes merely another example of how the public is so often ignorant and undeserving of art, despite art’s very audience being (occasionally) intended for such ilk. And yet, there’s a reason art has been shrouded behind the moated world of the affluent for most of its existence: they’re not so damned careless with it. Obviously, if they’re willing to shell out millions in order to possess it. And, once upon a time, they were even willing to offer their patronage in order to secure it (clearly, rich people have evolved into stingier cunts since then).

In contrast, someone like Keith Haring was off-put by the idea of art being “owned” by the rich class, insisting, “Art is for everybody” (with the necessary caveat being, “Art is for everybody who can be around it without destroying it.”) Hence, his preference for the graffiti-oriented medium, scrawling his work in spray-paint on trains, walls and every highly visible surface in between. Jean-Michel Basquiat had a similar philosophy to his contemporary before the art world came knocking and rendered his work “gallery-worthy” with their approval.

Jeff Koons, needless to say, has been “gallery-approved” for decades, setting a record as the only living artist whose art (specifically, “Rabbit”) was able to fetch as high of a number as ninety-one million dollars at an auction. With “Balloon Dog (Blue), Shattered,” he might set another record. Mainly for how absurd the art world can get, in addition to how much “ruins” can be sold for. That the incident has happened at a time when humanity itself is living among the ruins that most companies can still turn a profit out of is perhaps too painfully poetic to acknowledge. We’re all willing to open our purses for the shards, as it were. It’s just that some of us are doing it for basic survival, whereas others are doing it to flex their financial clout on something especially superfluous.

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February 23, 2023
Banksy Marks Valentine’s Day With Powerful Commentary On Domestic Abuse

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British street artist Banksy confirmed via his Instagram account on Tuesday he was behind a new Valentine’s Day-themed mural in Margate, southeast England, that appears to be a commentary on domestic violence against women.

In the piece titled “Valentine’s Day Mascara,” a 1950s housewife with a missing tooth and a swollen eye appears to be shutting her husband into a real freezer.

Trash including an empty beer bottle lies nearby.

It’s the anonymous artist’s first public artwork since his late-2022 trip to Ukraine, where he painted seven pieces in solidarity with locals amid Russia’s invasion.

It’s also in stark contrast to his more whimsical 2020 Valentine’s Day mural in his teenage stomping ground of Barton Hill in Bristol, southwest England, which showed a young girl firing a slingshot at a bunch of red flowers.

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February 14, 2023
Thwarted Theft Of Banksy Art In Ukraine May Cost Alleged Ringleader Dearly

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The alleged ringleader of a thwarted attempt to steal a mural that the anonymous British street artist Banksy painted on a bombed-out building in Ukraine will face up to 12 years behind bars if convicted.

Ukraine’s interior ministry revealed the potential hefty prison sentence on its website Monday, reported Reuters.

Police charged a group of people in December with trying to remove the artwork depicting a woman in a gas mask from a wall in Hostomel, near Kyiv.

The wall pictured before and after the thwarted theft.

“The criminals tried to transport this graffiti with the help of wooden boards and polyethylene,” said the ministry, per Reuters. “Thanks to the concern of citizens, the police and other security forces managed to arrest the criminals.”

The mural was one of seven that Banksy painted in Ukraine last year in solidarity with its citizens amid Russia’s invasion, which began in February 2022.

The gas mask piece remains under police protection.

In December, Banksy announced the release of a limited-edition print to raise money for the Legacy of War Foundation, which is supporting citizens in Ukraine affected by the conflict.

The organization provided the artist, whose identity has never been officially confirmed, with an ambulance to use during his trip to the country. It also allowed him to escape an “angry babushka” who busted him painting on her building, he revealed on its website last month.

More than 1 million requests were made to register for the chance to buy one of the 50 prints, said the charity, which said it also received “3,500 hostile attacks from Russian IP addresses.”

Art by Banksy has in the past sold for millions of dollars.

The artist has previously encouraged people to leave street art in situ, though, a tough lesson that one man learned when he showed off a purported Banksy artwork on the “Antiques Roadshow” television program.

Last year, eight men were sentenced for stealing his tribute to the victims of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that he painted on a door of the Bataclan theater.

See all of Banksy’s Ukraine art here:

Banksy in Ukraine

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January 3, 2023
Italy allows 2nd aid group’s migrant rescue boat to dock

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ROME — Italy on Friday gave permission for a second humanitarian group’s ship to disembark its passengers at an Italian port, seemingly softening its hard line against European-flagged vessels that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Italian authorities told the crew of the Geo Berents, chartered by the French group Doctors Without Borders, to head toward Salerno, near Naples, with its 248 migrant passengers. Already, a mother who gave birth to a baby on board Wednesday, the baby and three siblings had been evacuated, the group said.

Doctors Without Borders said it would take around 24 hours in rough seas to arrive but that the designation of a port was “a relief for the children, women and men who went through harrowing experiences since leaving their countries of origin.”

Earlier Friday, Italy allowed the German-flagged Louise Michel, which is funded and decorated by the street artist Banksy, to disembark its 33 passengers in Lampedusa, Sicily. In a tweet, the Louise Michel said the passengers had been rescued from a small wooden boat two days earlier.

“We wish them all the best for the future, and hope they will be better welcomed by civil society than by Europe’s violent border regime,” it said.

Soon after coming to power in September, Italy’s right-wing government of Premier Giorgia Meloni had argued that the flag countries of rescue ships are responsible for taking in the migrants and that Italy would no longer be the de facto port of automatic entry. Rome said it would only allow migrants deemed “vulnerable” to disembark.

That policy drove a diplomatic standoff with France last month over the fate of the Ocean Viking and its 234 migrants. Italy refused the rescue ship port for weeks, forcing France to take it in. Paris retaliated by suspending its participation in a European Union solidarity pact to accept 3,000 relocated migrants this year from Italy and reinforced its southern border crossings.

The aid groups and legal experts had argued the Italian policy contradicted international law and maritime conventions, which require rescued people to be disembarked as quickly as possible in the nearest port of safety.

A third ship is currently off Sicily awaiting port — the Humanity 1, operated by the German aid group SOS Humanity, with some 261 people on board.

“No place of safety has yet been allocated despite multiple requests. Meanwhile, the weather is worsening,” the group said in a statement.

———

Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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December 9, 2022
Banksy’s half-shredded artwork is on sale again — and it may fetch millions more this time

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A Banksy artwork that sensationally self-shredded just after it sold for $1.4 million is up for sale again — at several times the previous price.

Auctioneer Sotheby’s said Friday that “Love is in the Bin” will be offered at a sale in London on Oct. 14. The piece has a pre-sale estimate of 4 million to 6 million pounds ($5.5 million to $8.3 million).

“Love is in the Bin,” an artwork by Banksy, which will be for sale in an auction at Sotheby’s in London on September 3, 2021.

TOM NICHOLSON / REUTERS

It consists of a half-shredded canvas bearing a spray-painted image of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.

Then known as “Girl With Balloon,” the work was sold at Sotheby’s in October 2018. Just as an anonymous European buyer made the winning bid, a hidden shredder embedded in the frame by Banksy whirred to life, leaving half the canvas hanging from the frame in strips.

The buyer decided to go through with the purchase — a decision that would be vindicated if the picture achieves its estimated price.

Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, described “Love is in the Bin” as “the ultimate Banksy artwork and a true icon of recent art history.”

“Love is in the Bin was born of the most spectacular artistic happening of the 21st century,” he said. “When ‘Girl With Balloon’ ‘self-destructed’ in our saleroom, Banksy sparked a global sensation that has since become a cultural phenomenon.”

The artwork will travel and go on public display in London, Hong Kong, Taipei and New York ahead of its sale next month.

Bansky, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words, “Laugh now, but one day I’ll be in charge.”

“Girl With Balloon” was originally stenciled on a wall in east London and has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s best-known images.

Earlier this year, a blockchain company bought a $95,000 Banksy artwork, burned it and broadcast it live on Twitter — all part of a process of turning the work into a virtual asset called a non-fungible token, or NFT.

Injective Protocol, the company behind the stunt, bought the screenprint “Morons (White)” from New York’s Taglialatella Gallery, then burned it Monday evening. The event, which took place in an undisclosed Brooklyn neighborhood, was live-streamed through the Twitter account BurntBanksy. Employees then created a digital representation of the art using blockchain technology.

Dan Patterson contributed to this report.

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November 30, 2022
Amid the war ruins in Ukraine, Banksy seeds art

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BORODYANKA, Ukraine (AP) — Amid the ruins of war, the flowerings of art.

A delicate painting of a gymnast doing a handstand has popped up on the wall of a wrecked building outside of Kyiv and appears to be the work of the British graffiti artist known as Banksy.

Banksy posted photos on his Instagram page of the artwork in Borodyanka, northwest of Ukraine’s capital.

The town was the target of shelling and fighting in the early stages of the Russian invasion, which turned apartment buildings into charred, bombed-out hulks.

The mural of the gymnast is in black and white and is painted so she looks like she is doing her handstand on the crumpled remains of concrete blocks that poke out of the blackened wall. Towering above her are the gutted, blown-apart innards of what were once apartments.

Another mural in the town — of a small boy doing a judo throw on a man — also looked like it might be Banksy’s, although that wasn’t posted on his Instagram page.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia is a judo practitioner.

A Banksy-like painting, also in black and white and again not confirmed as his by Banksy himself, also appeared on the wall of a war-damaged building in the town of Irpin, on Kyiv’s northwestern outskirts.

It shows a rhythmic gymnast doing a pirouette with a ribbon, over a gaping hole in the wall.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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November 15, 2022
Amid the war ruins in Ukraine, Banksy seeds art

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BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Amid the ruins of war, the flowerings of art.

A delicate painting of a gymnast doing a handstand has popped up on the wall of a wrecked building outside of Kyiv and appears to be the work of the British graffiti artist known as Banksy.

Banksy posted photos on his Instagram page of the artwork in Borodyanka, northwest of Ukraine’s capital.

The town was the target of shelling and fighting in the early stages of the Russian invasion, which turned apartment buildings into charred, bombed-out hulks.

The mural of the gymnast is in black and white and is painted so she looks like she is doing her handstand on the crumpled remains of concrete blocks that poke out of the blackened wall. Towering above her are the gutted, blown-apart innards of what were once apartments.

Another mural in the town — of a small boy doing a judo throw on a man — also looked like it might be Banksy’s, although that wasn’t posted on his Instagram page.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia is a judo practitioner.

A Banksy-like painting, also in black and white and again not confirmed as his by Banksy himself, also appeared on the wall of a war-damaged building in the town of Irpin, on Kyiv’s northwestern outskirts.

It shows a rhythmic gymnast doing a pirouette with a ribbon, over a gaping hole in the wall.

———

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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November 13, 2022
Blockchain company buys and burns Banksy artwork to turn it into a digital original

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A blockchain company bought a $95,000 Banksy artwork, burned it and broadcast it live on Twitter — all part of a process of turning the work into a virtual asset called a non-fungible token, or NFT.

Injective Protocol, the company behind the stunt, bought the screenprint “Morons (White)” from New York’s Taglialatella Gallery, then burned it Monday evening. The event, which took place in an undisclosed Brooklyn neighborhood, was live-streamed through the Twitter account BurntBanksy.

Moments later, Injective Protocol employees created a digital representation of the art using blockchain technology on the OpenSea, which recently gained notoriety after Mark Cuban used it to issue his own NFT.

While digital art has recently become popular, this event is the first major instance in which a physical artwork was turned into a unique digital asset, according to Injective Protocol executive Mirza Uddin.

“We view this burning event as an expression of art itself,” Uddin said, adding, “We specifically chose a Banksy piece since he has previously shredded one of his own artworks at an auction.”

“Morons (White)”, the Banksy painting acquired and digitized by Injective Protocol

Image: Banksy

The original print, a black-and-white depiction of an art auction with a mocking message to would-be art buyers, carried Banksy’s signature and was authenticated by Pest Control, the only organization authorized to certify Banksy’s art. The print was one of an edition of 500.

Representatives from the Taglialatella Gallery confirmed that the print was sold to Injective Protocol in January. CBS News obtained its certificate of authenticity and transaction receipt. According to Injective Protocol, Taglialatella Gallery was not aware the print would be destroyed when it was sold.

Banksy is an anonymous artist and political activist who gained notoriety by creating graffiti, photos and short films that often contain wry social commentary. The artist does not make public statements.

A certificate of authenticity for “Morons (White).”

Courtesy Injective Protocol

Betting on digital

For Injective Protocol, a three-year-old company that runs a decentralized platform for blockchain transactions, the project is a validation of the blockchain’s ability to stand in for physical art assets, Mirza said.

“We entirely recreate the physical piece and input specifications, such as the art version number into the smart contract code, [so] no one can ever alter the digital art in any way,” said Mirza. “The physical piece will forever be memorialized in this NFT.”

Non-fungible tokens are virtual items that use blockchain technology and smart contracts to assure each item, or asset, is unique and unchangeable. For example, NFTs can be linked to digital photos, videos, virtual trading cards in video games and even digital artwork. While digital items, such as photos, can be copied indefinitely, NFTs cannot, as each is immutably unique, creating scarcity in the virtual assets to which they are linked. NFTs can be transferred or sold, but unlike a dollar bill — of which there are millions of in circulation that are interchangeable and hold equal value to each other— the unique cryptographic signatures of each token, recorded in smart contracts and verified on blockchain, assure that each NFT is an original and cannot be duplicated or divided into smaller parts.

“We believe NFTs hold tremendous promise and blockchain technology can help to further diversify art expression as we have demonstrated with this Banksy burning,” Mirza said.

Still, the company is likely to lose money on the Banksy transaction, because the market for NFTs is unproven.

When asked for an estimate of how much the Banksy NFT might be worth, Mirza said “I have no idea.”

NFT’s have skyrocketed in value in recent weeks. According to Trading Platforms, a site that ranks retail trading sites and currencies, NFT trading volume exceeded $400 million in the past 30 days, with an average of about 17,000 daily active traders. A survey by the site found that NFTs are driving mainstream consumer interest in cryptocurrency.

Full HD videohttps://t.co/sKAu2AERmJ

— Burnt Banksy (@BurntBanksy) March 3, 2021

“NFTs are valued for their cultural significance and social capital that comes with holding such notable works,” according to the report. “Unlike assets like Bitcoin, NFTs offer the ability to capture individuals’ attention and onboard them into the blockchain space,” it said.

Value or hype?

Not everyone is bullish on NFTs. “As someone who collects physical items like sports memorabilia, I get the allure of ownership and exclusivity,” said Drew Olanoff, a writer for TechCrunch. “But the hype around NFTs has been fast and furious,” he said.

“There is a lot of ‘get in now to get rich fast or be left behind’ fandom,” said Olanoff. “The potential upside [is] for artists, but I don’t see it for consumers yet.”

Once the hype slows down, the real value of NFTs will emerge or they’ll cool off, Olanoff said. For now, he cautioned potential buyers to avoid getting swept up in the excitement. “These are asset classes, and even if they’re new, financial restraint can and should still apply,” he said.

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Dan Patterson

Dan Patterson is a reporter for CBS News. He covers the tech trends that shape politics, business and culture.

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March 4, 2021