Red noses ‘were protest’
THE graffiti artist who claims he daubed painted the red noses on the latest Banksy did so as part of his own homeless protest, he claims.
As large crowds flocked to the Jewellery Quarter to see the Banksy on Monday the work was defaced by a vandal who reportedly shouted “shall i tag it?” before spraying red noses on the reindeers.
Now an anonymous graffiti artist called ‘Hers’ has contacted the Post offices, claiming he added the red noses to the work.
The 25-year-old, from
Quinton, says he is a huge fan of Banksy and only painted the noses red as ‘a subtle change.’
He has come under fire on social media for the move, but he defended his actions saying he needed to make his own point.
He said: “I am a huge fan of Banksy as I am also a graffiti artist and follow him on Instagram. When I saw the video I went straight over to Vyse
Street to take a look.
“What annoyed me was the fact that the mural was all about homelessness, but then lots of money was being spent on guarding the mural. Why not spend that money helping homeless people?
“It annoyed me so I went and got a tin of red spray paint. I had a picture taken on the bench and then I went and sprayed the reindeer’s noses red.”
On Wednesday another vandal daubed yet more graffiti over the perspex covering the work.
It was also revealed that the valuable artwork was almost wiped out before it was discovered.
Dennis Cluley is a part of the Jewellery Quarter Business Improvement District’s (JQBID) clean team – and it his job to get rid of graffiti in the area.
On Friday the 49-year-old found the work but did not know it was by Banksy.
He said: “I nearly took it off, it’s only the fact that it is so big and it would have taken me days that stopped me. It’s very odd for me not to take graffiti off.”
He breathed a sigh of relief when news broke that the mural was a Bansky, adding: “I’m glad I didn’t”.