A Banksy art work which was stencilled on to a house in Margate’s Park Place last month has now been removed ready for its journey to an art conservator in Faversham before making the trip to Dreamland.
The Valentine’s Day Mascara image appeared on the private home overnight on February 13. It is due to be housed at Dreamland for a period of at least 12 months before it is sold.
Thanet-based Oasis Domestic Abuse Service will receive ‘a significant, six-figure sum’ from the sale of the art work to support its work with survivors of domestic violence.
Work began inside the property at the beginning of this month and involved removing flooring, stairs and the wall. The tenants are currently staying in an Air B&B.
The works have been overseen by Red Eight Gallery which was called in by the artist owners of the property last month to deal with preservation and sale of the work.
Red Eight Gallery chief exec Julian Usher said the work would be cut out safely and then go to the art conservator to be made stable and exhibit ready with the freezer, which was removed from the piece last month, reinstated.
He added: “The target date for arrival at Dreamland is April 7-10 but this is still a moving part.”
The piece in Margate – before items were removed – 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.
The chest freezer with a jammed open lid as a prop 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 the following day but it was taken away yet again the same night by the gallery to be stored.
