Banksy gets the white glove treatment he’s always dreamed of at Bonham’s in London…

As we reported earlier in the week (See text below), London’s dominant nuevo riche street artist BANKSY was the star attraction at venerated auction house BONHAM’s contemporary art sale this week. As expected, the bidding met or far exceeded the broker’s conservative estimates, and a look at the list of works below reveals their redlined sale prices (keep in mind that many of these works were originally purchased for $500—$,1000, and are single color spray stencils that took no longer than 5 minutes to create). Have a look, and for current Banksy owners, start contemplating that secondary market flip that’ll put an extra wing on your crib:

Everybody’s favorite one-man modern art phenomenon is set to see some more action on the auction block this week when ten of BANKSY’s early works go up for grabs on Wednesday, October 24th, when BONHAM’s “Vision 21” art auction×which also includes notable pieces by Damien Hirst, Marc Newson, and Tracey Emin, among others—gets underway. It’s interesting to watch the cycle of buying and flipping of the work of London’s foremost street artist, especially if you’re one of the lucky sods who managed to snag an original piece for $500 at his early shows and must now keep a finger on the pulse of the secondary market to calculate the precise moment when you will unload it and pay off that second mortgage. With what are easily the most overinflated and unsustainable resale prices in the currently overheated art market, it’s simply a matter of time before the world economy plays a quick game of catch up and pops the bubble on today’s rabid street art market, and overzealous buyers are left holding the bag. Not that we have anything against Mr Banks getting money, but at this pace, something’s got to give, and soon. The works in this auction are CONSERVATIVELY estimated to fetch somewhere between $10,000—$160,000 USD, but people involved with the sale expect to see sale prices at least 2-3 times over speculation. Perhaps the most fitting counterpoint to all this rabid commerce is the following provenance attributed to one of the pieces up for grabs: “This work was purchased in Shoreditch in 2000. The images available to purchase were stenciled on the walls of railway arch with a corresponding reference number, and prospective buyers were invited to e-mail orders to a hotmail account. Three months later the completed paintings were available to collect from the a nearby bar with requests for payment to be made in cash.” Sign of the times…

“Playmate of the Month’, 2000, stencil signature, acrylic and marker pen on wood, 15 3/8″ x 17 5/16″, Estimate: £20,000-30,000, SOLD FOR £28,000

“Di Faced Tenners”, 2004, signed and dated in ink, from an edition of 32, screenprint, double sided image, with original certificate, 15 3/8″ x 11 7/16″, Estimate: £5,000-7,000, SOLD FOR £20,000

“Balloon Girl”, 2003, signed on the overlap, also numbered 12/25 to the reverse, spray paint stencil on canvas, 15 15/16″ x 15 15/16″, Estimate: £20,000-30,000, SOLD FOR £48,000

“Precision Bombing’, 2000, acrylic and stencilled spray paint on canvas stencilled signature, numbered 3/10, 16 3/4″ x 18 1/2″, Estimate: £10,000-15,000, SOLD FOR£22,000

“Avon and Somerset Constabulary”, 2000, ‘Banksy’ stencil signature incorporated into the design, stencilled spray paint and oil on canvas, 23 13/16″ x 23 13/16″, Estimate: £60,000-80,000, SOLD FOR £80,000

“Heavy Weaponry”, 2004, signed on the overlap, also numbered 12/25 to the reverse, spray paint stencil on canvas, 12″ x 12″, Estimate: £20,000-30,000, SOLD FOR £32,000

“Attack of the Badly Drawn Boy”, 2000, signed, oil on board with stencil spray paint, 29 1/8″ x 37 13/16″, Estimate: £20,000-30,000, £65,000, SOLD FOR £65,000

“Horse on Steel,” spray paint and stencil on steel, 17 11/16″ x 9 5/8″, Estimate: £5,000-8,000, SOLD FOR £22,000

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“Untitled, Rat and Sword,” 2005, stencil spray paint on canvas stencilled signature on the overlap in red, also signed and inscribed by hand ‘THANKS BANKS,’ 12″ x 10 1/16″, Estimate: £20,000-30,000, SOLD FOR £54,000

“Heavy Weaponry”, 2000, ‘Banksy’ stencil signature incorporated into the image, original ‘Metroplitan Police Evidence’ label attached to stretcher with Banksy barcode stamp and edition no ‘8/10′, stencil spray paint and oil on canvas, 24″ x 24″, Estimate: £25,000-35,000, SOLD FOR £44,000

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 11:47 pm and is filed under Art & Commerce, Banksy, Graffiti, Hype 2.0, London, News, Street Art, art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.