Banksy Does New York Page #6

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Ah!

I know.

Guys, step back!

Step back!

- Back up!

- Back up!

Back up!

Let's go!

A little help!

Meantime, there's been a rash of greed

surrounding the concrete sphinx

he put up on Tuesday

near citi field.

Two auto shop partners took it.

They told the post they

were offered $50,000 for it,

but they say they're holding out

for more.

And they claim

that they did not steal it

because banksy did not report it stolen.

We don't know anything

about... you know,

we saw a lot of photographer,

a lot of paparazzi, a lot of, you know,

dressed people, nice-dressed people.

When you see that kind of people,

you know something's going on.

They just told us,

"oh, you got to be very careful

because this is very important."

And at the end of the day,

we just decided to take it

because if we don't take it,

somebody's gonna do it.

He got a plan for his mother.

You know, he want to buy maybe

a house or something, you know?

Maybe this is the opportunity...

You got one in your life...

That makes you change your whole life.

Right now, it's very expensive to live.

- Oh, yeah.

- You know, and this...

And this little basement,

we already pay $1,400 for this.

Three days ago, we got an e-mail

and that they would like to sell it.

"We have a banksy piece.

We want to sell it."

"Okay. I come by."

Stephan. nice to meet you.

- Elias.

- hi. Brendan.

- Elias.

- nice to meet you.

- This is the boss.

- Hi. Hi.

How are you?

Stephan. Nice to meet you.

This is my mom.

So, is this the banksy?

Yeah.

- Is this the banksy?

- Yeah.

We got to remove all this stuff

'cause it's all the way in the back.

This is all our security.

To get inside,

you have to remove everything.

This is it.

- Can we go in?

- Yeah, sure.

Go ahead.

Who's not gonna like this piece?

It's unique.

On the side here, this side?

So, what are your plans?

The plans is, actually,

sell it, a good sell.

- That's what...

- What is a good sell?

I don't know.

- Do you know about us?

- No.

That's good.

You know about us?

Yes.

It's good.

You know southampton?

Southampton?

- Southampton. long island.

- Mm-hmm.

Suffolk county.

Right, Nicky?

So, we have a gallery

in southampton, big gallery.

Our gallery is selling

original banksy street works.

If you're interested to talk about this,

we can talk about this.

No problem.

Most of the people

who have these banksy works...

They get greedy.

They say, "oh, this is millions."

- Mm-hmm.

- and millions is ridiculous.

- Life is about solution.

- Yes.

Exactly. I always say that.

And then, from what we sell,

we get a certain percentage.

They're gonna take it to the gallery.

They're gonna put insurance.

And the best buy is the one

that's gonna get it,

and they get a percent.

Me and you, you and me, me and you.

What is your opinion?

Then we will show it

at southampton this summer.

And then we go to...

- Can it get any louder?

- Yeah.

So, if we sell the banksy,

you can put one of these

in your new corvette.

No.

Hasta luego.

It was good to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Bye.

- Bye-bye.

- bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

This is banksy, too.

"Frog-sky."

Somebody saw a big, blue tarp

surrounding what had

previously been an empty lot

with curious things inside and workers.

So, I don't know if they saw

a banksky or Santa's village,

but we'll see.

It is often said that the role of art

is to remind us of our morality.

"Brainsky's" take on that seems

to be mounting an art show

that goes on for so long,

we all wish we were dead already.

Ladies and gentlemen,

please don't crowd

in the street, please.

I have no idea. I didn't

even know this was happening.

Seasons don't fear the reaper

nor do the wind, the sun,

or the rain

we can be like they are

come on, baby

don't fear the reaper

baby, take my hand

don't fear the reaper

we'll be able to fly

It was like a happening.

It was just this momentary thing,

and either you were there

or you found out about it

or you missed it.

La, la-la, la-la

To be honest with you,

I think the real show that

he's running is on the Internet.

It's like the Internet's

almost the graffiti wall.

It's like every one

of these new banksy pieces

is kind of like a stencil

that we're, you know,

running around throwing up

all over the place for him.

This is street art.

I'll be on like tumblr saying,

"what can I re-blog today?"

Like, you can't re-blog this.

You have to experience this.

I mean, he's got a team in New York

that I think has probably

laid the groundwork

for a lot of these things.

And this particular space,

where the grim reaper is...

I think in that case,

it was probably just,

you know,

gaining access via the landlord.

I mean, I think he managed

to kind of walk

an interesting line of doing some,

like, entirely un-sanctioned pieces

and then, on the other end

of the spectrum,

doing things that were obviously done,

at least, with a tacit permission.

Crowds in Chelsea were flocking tonight

to see banksy's latest installation.

It's under the high line.

I could never get

a solid answer out of anyone.

I managed to talk

to one of the instrumentalists,

the accordion player...

The grim reaper.

They had to sign all these

confidentiality clauses.

But in my opinion,

I think it kind of proves

that he isn't this sort of rogue

street artist anymore,

that he is a businessman,

and he has to protect his brand.

And his brand is this

sort of fly-by-night,

cloak-and-dagger street artist.

Today's piece was supposed

to be an editorial

in the New York times

about the one world trade center,

the freedom tower, and how ugly it is.

But the New York times declined it.

Now, meantime, not everyone

is happy with banksy tonight.

He posted an op-ed piece on his website

that he submitted to the New York times,

which the newspaper declined to print.

In the piece, he calls

the freedom tower in lower Manhattan

"the biggest eyesore in New York City"

and "a shy skyscraper."

He said it was something

that could be built in Canada,

which pissed off not only new yorkers,

but Canadians.

I think a lot of us

agree that the new freedom tower

isn't a very nice building,

architecturally.

And, you know,

whether he was actually going

to have this published.

I don't think that was the point.

You know, this idea of being censored

was really part of the message.

Can you explain to everyone, then,

what the banksky thing was?

So, the banksky piece

said on the side of a building,

"this site contains

blocked messages," right?

He went to a spot across

from the world trade center,

right, on the other side of the river...

- Mm-hmm.

- ...And put that up there...

"This site contains blocked messages"...

In full view of the freedom tower.

And now it's gonna be

world headline news.

It's stopping people

dead in their tracks.

It was an anonymous donation,

a painting mysteriously purchased,

then given back with banksy's Mark.

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