06-04-2025
Waking up with a Banksy on your wall: The differing fortunes of two homeowners
Owner of street-art gallery Stelladore in St Leonards, Warren is a purist, who feels that art made for the street should remain there, no matter its value. "With Banksy, where he puts the art is fundamental," she says. "Remove the work from the precise place on the streets that he put it, and the work instantly loses its power. Context is everything."
But Banksy has elevated graffiti into a new art form, now monetised – street art. Banksy's signed prints can sell for six-figure sums. Graffiti, or street art, has not just come of age, it is now an asset class. Given this, how can any homeowner feel okay about scrubbing away a Banksy without feeling as if they have smashed a Ming vase?
One thing I know for sure: if you wake up with a Banksy on your wall, you'll have to make a series of clever decisions to come out of it unscathed. As Sam says, after two years of dealing with the Banksy circus, "going back to normal life now is going to be terribly boring".
The new season of The Banksy Story is available on BBC Sounds
