(New York) When the enigmatic street artist Banksy painted a heart -shaped ball with a dressing covered with a band of a Brooklyn warehouse, the unpretentious brick building has instantly transformed into an artistic place and backdrop for an improbable battle of graffitis, with the wall of a heart.
Posted at 10:56 a.m.
Philip Marcelo
Associated Press
Almost immediately after the revelation of the work by Banksy in 2013, an anonymous graffitier approached and wrote “Omar NYC” in red next to the ball, to the great despair of passers -by.
A few days later, someone wrote in the “is a little girl” in white and pink next to Omar’s tag, followed by an apparently sarcastic phrase in black: “I remember my first tag”. Some people think that it was Banksy himself who came back secretly to the scene to add the reply. The Battle of Graffiti did not stop there. Another graffiti also tried to leave his mark, but was prevented by security agents.
Today, the inscription “Shan” is still visible in clear purple.
Maria Georgiadis, whose family owned the warehouse today demolished and finally withdrew the wall to preserve the work, says that this pastiche of Graffitis is typically New York.
“It looks like a war,” she said. They wage a real battle on the wall. »»
Auction work
The preserved wall, nicknamed Battle to Survive a Broken Heart (Battle to survive a broken heart), will be sold on May 21 at Guernsey’s, the New York auction house.
Maria Georgiadis, a Brooklyn teacher, confides that the sale is bit bittersness. His father, Vassilios Georgiadis, directed his roofing and asbestos removal company from the warehouse decorated with the ball.
He died of a heart attack four years ago, at the age of 67. This is why a part of the profits of the sale will be donated to the American Heart Association.
“It is very important for us because he adored him and he was so full of love,” said Maria Georgiadis during a recent visit to the warehouse where the work was kept for more than 10 years.
“It’s like a bandage on the heart. We all have love, but we have all gone through trials, we just put a little dressing and we continue to move forward, right? This is how I perceive it. »»
This wall section of almost 4 tonnes and 1.8 meters high is one of the many works that the British artist made during a residence in New York in 2013.
At the time, Banksy had announced the work by publishing photos on his website and a soundtrack registered in part with a creaky voice, induced by helium.
-Banksy may not have painted an answer to the tagger.
Arlan Ettinger, president of the Guernsey auction house, said it was impossible to be certain, because Banksy works clandestinely. However, he added that the stencil and the neat text “strongly suggest that it was a gentle way for Banksy to put the other artist in his place”.
Ulrich Blanché, professor of art history at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, qualified the work as “very well executed” stencil, remarkable partly thanks to the decision of Banksy to install it in the port district of Red Hook, in Brooklyn.
“This New York district was not easy to access at the time,” he wrote in an email. Banksy wanted people to visit New York places they had never seen and that they also appreciate them. »»
Mr. Blanché, however, wondered if the additional text in the stencil was really the work of Banksy, claiming that the choice of words and the design did not seem to correspond to the style of the artist at the time. “Treating a“ girl ”graffiti artist is not something that Banksy did in 2013. It is misogynist and immature, even sexist,” he wrote.
“Three different fonts that do not correspond and three colors: why would he do that?” It is too elaborate, unnecessarily, without justification. So I think it is someone else’s work. »»
Mr. Blanché also expressed his ambivalence as to the imminent sale, stressing that Banksy generally does not allow the sale of his street works. It nevertheless includes the responsibility which is the responsibility of the owners to protect them and maintain them.
“Banksy’s works must be preserved, but for the community for which they were created,” he argued. They should not be transformed into goods. They are designed and thought for a specific place. They are not portable. They are not Vendable. »»
Banksy spokesperson did not respond to an email asking for a comment.
A price difficult to determine
Maria Georgiadis’s brother Anastasios said that his father also hoped to keep the work to Red Hook after cutting him out of the wall and framed in a thick metal frame to protect her.
The eldest of the Georgiadis, he added, envisaged the work as the centerpiece of a commercial and residential complex on the property, a dream that he did not realize. The property has since been sold by the family.
Mr. Ettinger said it was difficult to predict the price that the work could report. There are few precedents for a Banksy’s work of this size, he added.
In 2018, a canvas in the series Girl With Balloon De Banksy was sold in London for 1.04 million Sterling pounds, before self -destructing in front of an amazed crowd.
Maria Georgiadis says he hopes that the buyer of Broken Heart will find the same beauty and the same sense that his father had found in this work. When Banksy painted it, the family business recovered devastating floods caused by Hurricane Sandy the previous year. Mme Georgiadis remembers that his father completely ignored who was Banksy, but that he had been touched by this simple image.
“My father said he was that Banksy knew what we were going through,” she said. He said, “Do you believe it, Maria? It’s a heart.” »»
