More Banksy work pops up in Brooklyn, this time commenting on capitalism and real estate
Photo by Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic
Banksy is at it again. Last Friday, we highlighted the 70-foot mural on the Houston Bowery Wall depicting the Turkish artist Zehra Dogan’s unjust prison sentence. Now the elusive street artist is taking credit for two murals on a derelict site slated for redevelopment in Midwood, Brooklyn, reports Hyperallergic.
One of the murals depicts a man in a suit and hard hat (most likely a real estate developer), cracking a whip that looks like a stock market up arrow, over a group of children and adults desperate to get away. Coincidence or not, Trump has properties in nearby Coney Island. The mural is classic Banksy commentary on the evils and influence of capitalism.
The second mural, on the wall of the next door shuttered gas station, depicts a black seal balancing an orange ball on its nose. The ball is in the place where the Mobil gas logo used to be. The meaning of this mural is less understandable.
According to Benjamin Sullivan at hyperallergic.com who went to the site, “When I spoke to a man named Shehine who works at the Sunoco gas station across Coney Island Avenue from the murals, he said they’d been painted several days earlier, perhaps as early as last Saturday (March 10).”
Two other Banksys appeared last week: a rat chasing time on a clock on 14th and 6th Avenue and, reportedly, another mural in Harlem. Interestingly, the former is also on a building slated for demolition, which presents a dilemma for building owners, as his works can sell for millions. Developer Gemini Rosemont, which owns the now-closed bank building on 14th Street, is reportedly examining its options, says Crain’s.
As for the Houston Bowery Wall, the mural was defaced with red paint on Saturday (just a day after it went public), but by Sunday that graffiti was removed.
This is Banksy’s first time back in New York in five years. During his last stint, he sold small versions of his work for just $60 a piece in Central Park.
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