Banksy work reviels the dark side of art

It is said that money is the root of all evil. Well in this case it just causes someone to slice down a foot thick concrete wall to secure and attempt to sell(I think the bidding is over), a simple work of art done by the notorious Banksy. The image is of Banksy's ballon girl(below) with two figures resembling airplanes.

What this post focuses on is the trend in modern art where a piece is made for profit instead of for commentary. However, street art or (graffiti as it is called in the law books) is bringing the art back to the layman. Artists who work outside the gallery and museum system do not have the constraints that control the artist to create. But, here we have the complete opposite. Its crazy that something that was created as a free work of art, is transformed into a commodity simply because someone wills it so. I feel that because they took a saw to this wall that so happens to have a work of Banksy on it, the work loses all value an becomes null and void of any price tag or aura. This type of work is for the public.

"One of the ideas was the relation to art as a commodity. I thought by doing drawings on the wall they would be non- transportable, therefore a commitment by the owner would be implied, and they could not be bought of sold easily."- Sol LeWitt

Snagging Banksy’s “Balloon Girl”



What do you think of this?