Finding Banksy In Coney Island

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I’m not really a fan of art but was really interested in the excitement that Banksy caused around NYC during his month-long residency Better Out Than In.  For just about every day in October, Banksy debuted a new work of art ranging from moving pieces, sculptures and his typical graffiti around the 5 boroughs of NYC.

At first I didn’t pay much attention to the hype but then it got interesting when Banksy set up a stand by Central Park. A vendor was selling original Banksy pieces for only $60 but it didn’t lead to many sales. The few lucky people who made a purchase are sitting on a small gold mine if they ever figure out what they have.

I started following closer each day, checking to see what Banksy would come up with next. It was also fun to find out which boroughs and neighborhoods the pieces were placed in.

I didn’t go out of my way to try to see any of the pieces in person until close to the end of Banksy’s “residency”. It seemed like every time a new piece went up it was either painted or tagged over, leaving not much worth checking out.

I decided to drive by the location of two Banksy spots and it turned out that the building owners both covered up the art to figure out a way to preserve and protect it from future vandalism.

Last week Kim e-mailed me about the newest Banksy which went up in Coney Island on October 28. It just so happened that I was working under 10 minutes away. When I was finished with work I decided to drive by.

When I pulled up, there was a small crowd gathered, taking photos and hanging around. I decided to park my car to get a better look.

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The piece features a robot spray painting a bar code on the wall. You can read a little about it in a New York Post article here.

I waited a couple of minutes for others to finish and then snuck in for a quick photo-op.
photo (7)While waiting for my turn to have my picture taken, this was what the scene was like.

I drove by the spot of the Banksy a couple of days later and this is what I saw:

photo (8)The owners of the building acted fast and had a gate installed so the Banksy piece wouldn’t get destroyed like many others had.

What are your thoughts about Banksy? Would you consider his work art or graffiti?

6 thoughts on “Finding Banksy In Coney Island

  1. Chanel- I’ll have to check out your posts! Did you see many of them in person? I wouldn’t make a special trip just yet to see the robot. All you will see is the gate in my last photo. Hopefully the owners of the building will open it up for the public to see in the near future.

    Jorge- I’ll have to check out Graffiti Wars. It sounds pretty interesting.

    1. I don’t have any problem with it and it doesn’t seem like most of the property owners do either. Having a Banksy on your property can bring a lot of value…

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