The saga of the freezer prop from the Banksy art work in Margate continues after it was removed once again last night (February 15).
It has not been removed by Thanet council and is being held in storage by a gallery, named as Red Eight Gallery by ITV, for ‘security’ purposes. They were called in by the owner of the property that the work has been stencilled on.
Red Eight Gallery chief exec Julian Usher said the gallery plans to remove the entire installation and display it. Turner Contemporary has been approached about exhibiting the work.
(Update) Mr Usher said: “I can confirm that we have been instructed by the house owner to handle the safe removal and promotion while a permanent home is sought. However, they have stipulated that they wish a local charity supporting prevention of domestic abuse against women to benefit along with the piece being used to raise awareness in Margate and nationally.
“We have reached out to Turner Contemporary art gallery and are in conversation with civil engineers and building contractors regarding the safe removal of the piece.
“Regarding the freezer, the council removed it to make it safe and we have protected the wall with a Perspex cover. The freezer has been returned by the council and is currently in storage for safe keeping until it can be reunited with the art once the wall has been removed.
“The owner is very grateful for the gist that Banksy has given them and they will do everything possible to raise awareness, continuing the message Banksy is promoting.
“The owners feel the weight of responsibility placed on them with this unexpected turn of events and will do everything they can to promote the message around domestic abuse, honour the significant interests of the Margate community whilst preserving the art work for posterity.”
The owner of the property which the Banksy is stencilled on said: “We were not in our wildest dreams expecting this. Without the support and quick actions of Red Eight Gallery we have no doubt the art work would not still be intact. We’ll do our best to respect the major parties involved but our key focus is raising awareness of domestic abuse against women.”
In 2021 a property owner in Lowestoft removed an entire wall which Banksy had stencilled. Workmen then cut the artwork out from the brick.
Last year Red Eight Gallery held the first Banksy exhibition in the City of London, called Banking on Banksy, as the venue’s launch event.
The exhibition contained more than 35 Banksy works, from originals to screen prints to sculptures including many of his popular pieces and some of his less well known works.
The piece in Margate, titled Valentine’s Day Mascara, appeared on the wall of a property in Park Place (rear of Grosvenor Place) overnight on February 12/13 and originally showed a woman with a swollen shut eye and missing tooth with a man’s legs poking out from a chest freezer, alongside an upturned chair and a beer bottle. It is understood to be a comment on domestic violence.
However, the work used a chest freezer with a jammed open lid as a prop and this was removed by Thanet council on February 14 to be ‘made safe’ as it was on public land. Council workers returned the freezer to the site yesterday but it was taken away yet again last night.
A new protective covering was also put over the stencil work yesterday by gallery workers.
Since the freezer was removed for the second time, locals have been bringing their own replacements!
Freezer returned to Banksy art work in Margate which highlights issue of domestic abuse
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A scrap piece of junk is now being held for security reasons, what a joke all this has become, will it ever end, still gives this rag much clicks on the website
You realise it is not us moving it I presume? I’ll quite happily write about other things but if it happens here then my job is to report on it.
Obviously not you, but this has brought how many different stories now ?
Bet you are loving it…
A bit harsh, Wevsky. I think it’s all one big farce too, but Kathy would hardly be doing her job if she didn’t report on a Thanet story that is making the national news.
ive had to unsubscribe form the other threads just to keep up, could one not have edited the original? Point is , its a freezer scrap metal and fly tipped
I’m a bit over the whole freezergate thing now to be honest, it feels like the message on domestic abuse has taken second place to a flytipped freezer
Agreed.
Thank you for the update. There are some nasty folk around, most of us like to know what’s going on.
Until someone puts the fridge back later today…
Someone did try but the fridge they used was too small 😂
Rather bizarre way to get domestic abuse across-if abused, just stab the guy to death & dump him in a freezer, rather than call the police etc.
The same person as excellent 28d later ?
Maybe some would not share the love and methods of 28 d later – I do
However this graffiti/ art or whatever u call it could raise £££££ for a very worthy cause
There is only 1 Wevsky!
as for methods i take photographs, how i get in there is not something i discuss
you wouldnt be donnas boy would you ?
No I’m not
Wouldn’t expect 28 dl methods to be discussed etc – simply not done
I just like the site
its a good site, one ive used since 2010, not so much these days,life got in the way of exploring
No,Kathy,keep reporting on the freezer.It will,soon,be getting more national coverage than Nicola Bulley and Ukraine.What brand of freezer was it?
Zanussi
Zanussi!It would have been a Bosch,in Broadstairs.
Looks like the owner of the property had got greedy. Typical
Good for them! If someone is going to graffiti on a person’s wall (not to mention have the national press outside their property), then that person may as well profit from it. If it was me, I’d also invite an “expert” in to see how much my unmade bed was worth.
Yours/ours is worth 30 quid for the council to take it away. Emin’s is ‘worth’ 2.5 million.
The on going saga of Robin Gunningham’s fridge. Fun isn’t it.
i hope banksy is paying for all the trouble hes caused , i dont want this coming out of my rates ! and he seems he can get thanet council to get of thier ar*es and to do something , we never can, or is it because the national press is all over it ?
Time to paint over it to stop the greed of people trying to cash in.
How do you remove a section of a brick wall anyway?
Well done Kathy for keeping us updated I’m told someone has complained to the council about the Banksy “graffiti encouraging others to deface properties”
So, reported on twitter by another local rag, the owner of the house is willing to sell the work or “art” and donate the proceeds to some charity.. people are in the process of working out how to remove the brickwork..
You’re welcome
The statement is in my article now. Looks like someone has bunged another freezer down there but it is a bit too small
Ill just be glad when all this is done with..
Lol, I don’t think you are alone in that
That freezer will be on ebay in a couple of weeks . Listed as famous modern art. And some rich muppet would probably buy it.
its being stored by some company until it and the brickwork can be displayed..Allegedly
The domestic abuse angle has triggered some people but not victims of domestic abuse. Older gentleman that don’t understand it at all. Maybe they could call through to the kitchen and get their wife explain it to them. If they didn’t leave them years ago.
I was abused. By a woman.
Satisfied now?
I’m not surprised tbh.
Thank you.
If more blokes came straight out and said that, fewer would suffer in silence. Assuming you’re for real Peter, I’m very sorry to hear that.
Anyway, this bit: ‘The owner is very grateful for the gift that Banksy has given them’ – that suggests they’ll do rather nicely out of all this, even after donating to the domestic abuse charity(?).
It is 100% true, Carina. I have nothing to be ashamed of, only my abuser (who is, I believe, now dead).
Of course you were.
Like you are “anti-establishment” but also stood and saluted when you heard the king was getting fireworks.
Everyone here knows you are a pathological liar and a troll.
You say anything you think will get a response. You are a lonely old man. I feel sorry for you.
I don’t lie. No need to call people you know nothing about liars. That’s not nice at all. I – and those that I love – know the truth about me and my past.
I agree with “Not Impressed”‘s 2.45pm comment. Checkfield himself comes across as a misogynistic bully.
What an ignorant comment “Not Impressed”.You do know,men are also the victims of domestic abuse.
I think it is about time that online bullies like him were blocked.
And who was it that was recently rebuked by the editor of this esteemed organ?
Agree Eric. And of course victims of domestic abuse may not necessarily be people one personally likes.
I am confused now lol
I thought the arty sector were saying how good this is for thanet. It will bring 1000′ of visitors and booster thanets economy. But now it’s being removed so not doing any of the above lol.
Its has cost us rates pays financial for the freezers removal, than return by TDC. Now it’s gone again. Why didnt TDC just take it to where it’s being stored ?
Have TDC made a statement on what is art and what is graffiti. Along with what is fly tipping and which is art.
Because I am sure our local graffiti artist would like to know along with our local fly tippers.
It’s going to the Turner. Last time I checked that’s in Thanet no.
Sigh.
Oh good are TC going to start charging an entrance fee after all its says it will bring 1000s of people.
It all boils down to who your are-if you are a plebeian then you will be prosecuted if caught. If you have a name in the ‘art’ world you can do as you please.
Steve
I agree with you but in this country everyone is meant to be equal in the eyes of the law.
One wonders if this whole thing was dreamed up by Turder, TDC/KCC & Banksy together for publicity? If so it has backfired spectacularly. Total farce.
Yeah Banksy needs to work with TDC for publicity.
What a stupid theory and how has it back fired, because a few old snowflakes on here melted over it.
It’s made national press and there is a nice buzz about it in most sensible areas of discussion.
Yes, I considered it briefly & then remembered that TDC/KCC/Turder don’t have the brains to pull off such an exercise with the feted, attention seeking fly-tipper & like most conspiracy theories surrounding government etc it is just good old incompetence/ineptitude at play.
Stupid as it may be, it is still not as stupid as TDC taking away a piece of illegally fly-tipped waste & then returning it the next day, thus illegally fly-tipping themselves.
Guess where it is going to end up, yep, got in one, the Turner Contemporary, and that’s the last we will see of it , while they ‘curate it’.
It enough to make old Checksfield’s records flop! Anytime soon we will see rants about what is art, and who is unwoke (non-woke, never-woke?) enough to create it!
At least it is more entertaining than a bunch of silly actors finger pointing about who gets nominated to receive a lump of bronze covered in 24 carat gold! They are silly people, bleating about a self -regarding profession. At least artists (well some of them) produce something.
They might have something to moan about if the were buried under one of Erdogan’s jerry built apartment blocks or on the receiving end of one of Putin’s Oscars ( NATO nomenclature for a class of submarine)!
Why is it going to a gallery inn London, there are many galleries inn Margate, Turner etc, why not give it to one of them?
Literally the most interesting thing to happen in Thanet!
According to the BBC ‘South East Today’ news, the Margate Banksy is going to be removed and exhibited in London by Red Eight Gallery. The chest freezer is on TDC property, giving them rights to the freezer (nice earner for TDC), and the art is on a private residence.
TDC own the chest freezer (nice earner for TDC), as it was on their property. The art belongs to the private resident who owns the wall.
The graffit/vandalism..there that’s better!
I am glad the conversation has turned to the message behind the artwork of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, any gender or sexual orientation and all of it is tragic and wrong. Where the issue becomes dangerous for women is when the abuse turns violence. In this country the homicide rate of female victims by male perpetrators is significantly higher then male victims by female perpetrators.
Domestic abuse is high in Thanet. So is fly tipping. Good for Banksy to get everyone talking about both issues. And hilarious responses a round. Thanks for covering it all so well, Kathy.
No one has mentioned that the white plastic chair in the original photo on Banksy’s Twitter page was switched for a brown chair. Surely that would affect the value.