Banksy art now removed from Margate property

Removed: The Banksy work is now going to a conservator Photo Frank Leppard

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.

How the Valentine’s Day Mascara by artist Banksy originally looked Photo Frank Leppard

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 underway earlier this month Photo Isabelle de Ridder

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.

Photo Frank Leppard

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.

Photo Frank Leppard

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.

Photo Frank Leppard

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.

22 Comments

      • If my house ever got painted by Banksy it get an order for him to paint over it and pay me compensation ,after all it’s just graffiti.

        • So just so I’m clear, if Banksy painted on the side of your house, and you didn’t appreciate the art but someone offered you £100k+ you buy it, because they did appreciate the art you’d blindly chase an artist who prides themselves on not being identified for the last 30 years for compensation?

      • I thought the same Rockstar, I noticed Peter Checksfield absence sometime ago, and felt a bit worried, but it soon went away. I was under the impression the building was a block of flats, possibly a conversion, but its an end of terrace house. That made it easier to remove the daub, using traditional building technology.

    • I have loads of pictures as my goddaughter lives in the flats there. It was painted under canvas at 9 o’clock in the evening. The noise from the scaffolding company recently and all the crowds of people was horrendous. No one cared about the tenants living there at all. Tv crews, even got a pic of a man I really think was Banksy leaning on the wall, watching ………

    • If someone puts ‘art’ on my private property then it isn’t public art it’s vandalism !

      • And if this Banksy was put on your property you would call the police and then have it painted over invoicing the artist?

  1. Just he time for the arty community ! The only good thing the Tories are bring in is being tougher on graffiti

    • Yes I read that…it was sprayed on a wall outside the local barricaded moated Tory office.

  2. I’m sure someone with a lot of money will end up buying this for there lounge. Mind must of cost a few quid to remove going by the pictures rsjs ect

  3. If some local yob stuck graffiti on my wall knowone would care not even the police and I’d have to pay for the paint myself, and do the work , so Banksy is just a graffiti artist who gets away with it , double standards but that’s thanet council for you .

  4. 33Okay, perhaps I am missing a few things here.

    Margate likes to promote itself as an arts hub yet this is going to Faversham for restoration before going to Dreamland which is an amusement part, why not the Turner Gallery, where is Miss Emin in all of this.

    Whilst I am having a little rant, i challenge anyone to go into Margate library and find a book on Law, Accountancy, modern architectural practices, e.g BIM and find a workspace that is not simply an underused space as a breakout area (seldom used) for council workers.

    I thought this was a public library that people could use to better themselves

    • Banksy is anti-establishment and he has shunned art galleries throughout his career. I suspect it was deemed unsuitable that his work be displayed in the Turner.

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