Banksy:
Vandalism or Art? Automatic translate

Nobody saw the famous "art terrorist" Banksy in the face: he remains completely anonymous, although Londoners highly appreciate his street paintings.

I draw, therefore, exist

The mysterious artist combines caustic wit and controversial political statements in his works, and it seems that the further he goes, the more he enjoys it. In 2008, his painting Keep It Spotless, in which the image of a maid is superimposed on the "peas" of Damien Hirst, left Sothbey’s auction for $ 1,870,000. Thumbs up for a brawler who has been hiding from the police for years.

Photo: banksy.co.uk

Banksy seems to be able to make money right out of thin air. In January 2011, a scrap of paper with the real name of the British hoaxer was put up at an eBay online auction. The starting price of three thousand quickly jumped to $ 999,999, after which the lot was mysteriously removed. Perhaps this trick was triggered by Banksy himself, who knows how to even turn online trading into an art campaign promising considerable profit.

People from the subway

For several decades, the work of the slender bespectacled man Keith Hering has acquired the features of a peculiar visual language. Ornaments from simple human figures related to the themes of birth, war, love, first appeared as chalk drawings in the New York subway. Hering died in 1990, but his works continue to gain popularity: today they can be seen at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, and the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris.

The artist created works in various techniques, from painting on canvas to monumental sculpture, but it is his simple drawings from the metro that are the most profitable acquisition. In 2007, Keith Hering’s 1982 ink drawing on canvas was sold for $ 2.8 million.

Punks in the gallery

American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat began his career as an anonymous stonemaster in the late 70s, when a wave of cultural transformations swept New York. Very soon, his chaotic primitive portraits of masks and street scenes were registered in the catalogs of bohemian galleries and auctions of the world. The former street boy who traded postcards from the tray will be called the pillar of neo-expressionism, and the halo of punk madness, drugs and friendship with Andy Warhol will create the image of an art bully to the Basques.

Jean-Michel died without ever seeing his commercial triumph. In 2013, the painting "Blurred Heads" went under the hammer of Christie’s for 48.8 million. By the way, these auctions in New York have become the most profitable in the history of the auction house: their total revenue amounted to 495 million dollars. And who said that spraying the colors of Jackson Pollock or the colorful Marilyn Monroe from Andy Warhol is a one-day and swindle?

Tornike