Cleaners Paint Over Priceless Art

The Melbourne city council learned the hard way that one man's art is another man's crap on a wall that needs to be painted over. The council hired a cleanup crew to get rid of graffiti on Hosier Lane, a street renowned for its street art. While there, the crew got rid of the graffiti, as well as a piece by Banksy, who is regarded as one of the world's greatest street artists. From the article: "The reclusive Banksy ... painted several stencils in Melbourne during a 2003 visit. His satirical and distinctive art is often directed at anti-war, cultural, and anti-capitalist themes. Banksy in 2005 painted nine images on Israel's West Bank barrier, including a ladder going over the wall and an image of children breaking through to a tropical island. In 2008, a London wall bearing one of his stencils was said to have sold on eBay for almost $500,000."

Comments

Missing links

[UnifiedTechs]

Here is the missing links:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2010/04/28/melbourne-banksy-street-art.html

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_2_0_t&ct3=MAA4AEgCUABqAnVz&usg=AFQjCNErhVxz8bHDdfGDdi5fhOOSg3qxFw&cid=17593745138431&ei=PGfYS7CQH4PC8wSzvZuXAg&rt=STORY&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theage.com.au%2Fvictoria%2Fmore-banksy-street-art-in-melbourne-20100428-ts54.html%3Fautostart%3D1

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_3_0_t&ct3=MAA4AEgDUABqAnVz&usg=AFQjCNEsUfIyFhXFwCLurPxuIXL7jMgM5A&cid=17593745138431&ei=PGfYS7CQH4PC8wSzvZuXAg&rt=STORY&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Farticle-1269215%2FMelbourne-Council-orders-Banksy-street-art-painted-mistake.html%3Fito%3Dfeeds-newsxml

All over the world

[Evildonald]

This has happened all over London as well. In the 4 years I was there.. i used to know of about 25 pieces.. and when i left they were down to about 7. The small "Rats" have a particular knack of getting painted over.. they are all gone, bar one that I know of, in London.

it's != its

[Dagger2]

a street renowned for it's street art

Look, it's bad enough seeing this in the comments constantly, without having it in the summary itself. Is it so difficult to just read your sentence to yourself -- "a street renowned for it is street art" -- and realize that it's not quite right?

I doubt Banksy would care

[SirWhoopass]

Isn't Banksy's position that he likes the perishable nature of his art?

The painter did his job.

[blair1q]

The person who ordered the graffiti removal did not.

Now slashdot will be on Conroy's blacklist

[ross.w]

You've discussed graffiti, which is a crime in Australia and material that discusses or promotes it are Refused Classification. Welcome to the blacklist ladies and gentlemen, with more to come.