Banksy Bataclan Sad Girl Eight Convicted Of Art Theft 

Banksy Bataclan concert hall

Eight men have been convicted of stealing A Banksy artwork depicting a weeping woman that was taken from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. The mural was painted on a door used in the escape of hundreds of fans at a concert by the American band Eagles of Death Metal. The door was stolen to order in 2019.

Banksy has achieved a now-legendary status that teeters between acclaim and notoriety

The Guardian reported’ Three men in their thirties admitted to the theft and were given prison sentences, one of four years and two of three, although they will be able to serve them wearing electronic tracking bracelets rather than behind bars. Another man, a 41-year-old millionaire lottery winner and street art fan accused of being the mastermind of the heist was given three years in jail for handling stolen goods after judges found the main allegation unproven. His sentence will also be served with a bracelet”.

On 13 November 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) planned terrorist attacks across Paris. Three gunmen who were French nationals of Algerian descent conducted a mass shooting at the Bataclan. An Austrian duo, the White Miles, had completed their performance, and the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal were in the middle of their performance when three gunmen wearing suicide belts entered the theatre, firing at people at random and taking hostages. The police later stormed the theatre and two gunmen killed themselves during the police raid by detonating suicide vests they were wearing. A third was killed by police gunfire before he could detonate his vest. Two of the attackers, Samy Amimour and Omar Ismaïl Mostefaï, were French citizens. The third attacker, Foued Mohamed-Aggad, was carrying what was thought to be a stolen Syrian passport. As a result of the attacks, 90 people were killed and over 200 were wounded. The band members of Eagles of Death Metal and most of the road crew escaped unharmed, although their merchandise manager was among the fatalities. – Wikipedia

Born and bred in Bristol, Banksy has achieved a now-legendary status that teeters between acclaim and notoriety for his distinctive style of satirical street art and graffiti. His work is rich in dark humour and frequently captioned with subversive epigrams that provide pejorative commentaries on socio-political aspects of contemporary life. Seeking to disturb and disrupt the status quo through his interrogative and anti-establishmentarian practice, Banksy has epitomised his own mission with the adage: ‘Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable’ – a modern-day take on the turn-of-the-century American satirist Finley Peter Dunne’s declaration that the duty of a newspaper is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” (Finley Peter Dunne cited in Dean P. Turnbloom, Ed., Prizewinning Political Cartoons: 2010 Edition, Gretna 2010, p. 146). Throughout his career, Banksy’s art has been frequently dismissed as crass or glib; yet in spite of this, his work can be seen to fit into a vibrant and venerable history of political parody. From the British pictorial satirists of the Eighteenth Century, including Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray and, of course, the great William Hogarth, through to the allegorical writings of George Orwell whose revolutionary novel Animal Farm similarly utilised zoological symbolism to critique modern society, and on to the political cartoonists of the present day, Banksy’s most beautiful work is situated within an esteemed tradition of raising an unforgiving and illuminating mirror up to the world. – Sotheby’s

Photo Courtesy https://www.banksy.co.uk/

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