Tube cleaners accidentally scrub out Banksy coronavirus artwork
Artwork worth potentially hundreds of thousands pounds by street artist Banksy was removed from a London Tube carriage accidentally, after cleaners had no idea about the value of the works.
Transport for London (TfL) removed the artwork, after the world-renowned artist painted a series of his trademark rats posing with face masks, due to TfL’s “strict anti-graffiti policy”.
Cleaners from the cash-strapped transport body removed the artworks, despite Banksy’s works regularly selling for more than £1m at auction. Last October one Banksy piece sold for £12.2m.
The enigmatic artist posted a video yesterday of him clandestinely creating the works with a caption of “don’t mask, don’t get” in reference to new rules requiring people wear face masks in indoor areas.
Morning Wire understands that Banksy daubed the works last week and that TfL cleaners removed themunaware of what they were looking at.
TfL chiefs and mayor of London Sadiq Khan had no input into the decision as it was made at a much lower level.
A TfL source told Morning Wire that cleaners had followed “the correct procedure” and likely did not recognise Banksy’s trademark rats.
A City Hall source said: “We had no idea that Banksy had done the work until we saw the Instagram video yesterday.
“I understand that it was taken last week and in the interim it was removed.”
A spokesperson from TfL said: “We appreciate the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings, which the vast majority of customers on our transport network are doing.
“In this particular case, the work was removed some days ago due to our strict anti-graffiti policy. We’d like to offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location.”
TfL chiefs will likely be rueing a missed opportunity to raise revenues. London’s transport body has lost billions of pounds during the Covid-19 crisis.
It received a £1.6bn bailout from central government, which came with a stringent set of conditions.
Banksy’s video shows the anonymous artist dressed in all-white cleaning gear, with a large mask, stencilling his infamous rats in the Tube carriage.
Some of the rats are using blue face masks as parachutes, while others are using them as blankets.
The video ends by showing a message spray painted across a closing door, and on the wall behind, saying: “I get lockdown, but I get up again.”
The phrase is a nod to Chumbawumba’s 1997 hit Tubthumping, also known as I Get Knocked Down.