Banksy the Bristol born ‘Street Artist’ has been producing a new work of art every day this month, for his residency in New York City. His latest work a 1/36 scale replica of the great Sphinx of Giza, formed from crushed cinder/breeze blocks, has been sold to a cartel of art dealers by the owner of an Auto Glass business. The sculpture appeared yesterday in Queens, where it was installed by the artist. The work titled ‘Everything but the kitchen Sphynx’ is the latest in a number of works to be bought for a song by shrewd art dealers, for the resale market.
Many of the other works in the series called ‘Better Out Than In’ have already been defaced with tagging, painted over or removed/sold by the property owners. This latest work titled Everything but the kitchen Sphynx, was described on the artist’s website as ” made from smashed cinderblocks” and sat in an industrial area of the Willetts Point area of Queens.
According to New York news website Gothamist, the removal truck arrived after the business owner had been “selling off bricks and stone for around $100 a pop”. The sculpture was pictured being placed in a Mundanzas Moving truck. When contacted, the truck company told Gothamist that they did not speak English. In some cases New York gangs have been covering Banksy’s artworks and charging visitors $20 to take a look.
Last year the ‘Poundland’ Banksy mural in London,which appeared around the time of the Diamond Jubilee was hacked off of the wall and sold at auction for £750,000. The mural depicted a child labourer hunched over a sewing machine stitching a string of Union Jack bunting.The work created in Whymark Avenue, Wood Green, North London was described as a statement on the use of sweat-shop child labour.