Another Banksy art piece was seen rolling through the Upper West Side this week.
The British street artist filled a slaughterhouse truck with screeching stuffed animals about a week ago (yes, a bit disturbing) and sent it throughout the city, starting logically in the Meatpacking District. “According to the website, four puppeteers dressed in black Lycra are inside the truck, moving the toys, whose heads turn and mouths open and close.” We’ve posted a video of the truck below.
When Jen Maguire Coughlin snapped the photo above on Monday, the truck was on West 83rd street, and you can see a bunch of kids taking pictures in the background.
In addition, Banksy sold his art at a stand in Central Park near 59th and 5th about a week ago without announcing it, but only three people bought any (they’re probably each worth tens of thousands of dollars).
A few days later, a couple of Banksy impostors sold 40 pieces of fake Banksy art in Central Park that was clearly labeled as fake. And they made a ton of money doing it. Which proves…something about how people are stupid?
A week after Banksy’s fire sale, Cicirelli and a group of collaborators took to the street, setting up a nearly identical stand in the same location and selling “fake Banksys” –imitation works of art that were explicitly labeled as such–also for $60 each. Forty of the bogus works, which even came with notarized “certificates of inauthenticity,” sold out in an hour.
Videos of the real and fake Banksy stands are below.
On Wednesday, Banksy announced he’s halting his art project “due to police activity.” The NYPD have been on his tail since he arrived. Hopefully, he’ll be able to restart the project on Thursday. Clearly, local businesses like Zabar’s and Irving Coffee like the attention and are using it to promote the area:
Come by and visit Zabar's today and check out Banksy's newest artwork just around the corner… pic.twitter.com/ZpWSMjMkRd
— Zabar's (@ZabarsIsNY) October 21, 2013
Customers and passers-by on 79 st…don't be afraid. The block's only been #banksyny'd! pic.twitter.com/PNl9sMoKvb
— Irving Farm Coffee (@IrvingFarm) October 23, 2013
