Replacement for Banksy artwork taken within hours
AN appeal has been made for the return of artwork put up on a wall where Banksy’s work previously appeared, after two men were seen taking it away.
Artist Mason Storm’s replacement for Banksy’s Aachoo!! was removed just a few hours after being revealed.
But Mr Storm said he doesn’t want to involve the police in the theft and has appealed for it to be returned.
He said he had intended to sell off the work for a local charity, but now said he’ll come back and do another work of art on the wall at the bottom of Britain’s steepest street, Vale Street in Totterdown.
Banksy’s image of a woman sneezing out her false teeth was painted on the side of the house on the corner of Park Street and Vale Street in Totterdown in December 2020, and despite the lockdown, attracted people from all over the country to see it.
But the entire wall was removed in March this year after the previous owner of the house decided to sell the artwork, and the wall was replaced
London artist Mr Storm created a new work at the same location last week – teased by a “treasure hunt” on his social media pages – on a large piece of wood attached to the wall.
The artwork borrowed the Bristol artist’s famous rats with placards, balloons and a helicopter gunship with a smiley face. The placard read “Mason knows”.
The work was uncovered late on Thursday afternoon, but by 10pm it had been taken away.
Residents said two men turned up in a car to take it away, but found it was too large to fit in the vehicle, so they called in a van, which arrived shortly afterwards.
The artist said he initially thought the person who took it did so mistakenly.
“I had teased this as a treasure hunt all week, and the prize for being the first to find it was a print of it,” he said. “So I thought maybe they thought the prize was the actual work, which it isn’t. But since last night, no one has said they’ve got it, so it looks like someone has taken it. It’s quite literally disappeared.
“I was expecting it to be taken down, but not to last just four hours, so it’s a bit of a nightmare.
“It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, especially with the placement of it at that particular wall. But the plan was to sell it off for a charity in a year’s time, which I’d arranged with the Stowe Gallery,” he added.
“I’m not universally loved, especially in Bristol, and the placement was cheeky, but it was a bit of fun, as opposed to anything more malicious.
“Sometimes people get a little bit too involved, and take things way too seriously. If it doesn’t come back, I’ll just paint another. I’ll do something else for the street too.
“I don’t want to involve the police – it’s art, it’s not real life. I wouldn’t want anyone to get in any sort of bother about something like this.
“But if the person who took it could either put it back there, or tell me where it is so I can come pick it up, that would be great,” he added.