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Banksy Work to Star in Extravagant Gallery Raffle

By ARTINFO

Published: September 3, 2008
LONDON—London's Lazarides gallery will hold an art raffle, the Lazarides Extravaganza, during Frieze Art Fair, the Times of London reports. Tickets for the October 16 event cost £5,000 ($8,870) a piece, which gets the buyer entry into the party, a minor original work by one of the gallery's artists — Jonathan Yeo, Antony Micallef, Paul Insect, JR, or Faile — and a one-in-10 chance of winning the grand prize: works by each of these artists plus four other pieces, including two done by Banksy.

"It's a risk for us and it's a bit of a gamble for the ticket buyers, but that's part of the fun," said Ralph Taylor, a director of the gallery. "This kind of one-off is the way that we do business."

The two Banksy works included in the pot are System Error, a defaced 19th-century oil painting valued at £300,000, and Sketch for Essex Road, which was included in a charity auction for the Labour party last March.

The extravaganza will take place in a disused factory in central London and will be replete with drinks and strippers. Lazarides put 250 tickets up for sale yesterday.
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