Banksy may draw large crowds when his work goes on exhibit, but he’s become a diminishing presence at U.K. auctions as demand drops for paintings by graffiti artists during the financial slump.
Earlier this year, works by the urban artist, who keeps his identity a secret, saw falling prices and rising failure rates, which have discouraged sellers from testing the market with higher-value paintings. No Banksy paintings were up for bid at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, or Phillips de Purys evening contemporary-art auctions in London in June, or at Bonhamss July 1 Vision 21 sale, which pioneered the market for the street artist. The trend isn’t confined to Banksy; specialist sales of urban art have been canceled at British regional auction houses, and auction prices for contemporary artists generally have dropped between 30 and 50 percent with the crisis, dealers say. But despite the decline in his art-market popularity, Banksy remains as trendy as ever with the public: More than 122,000 have flocked so far to the Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery's free exhibition of his work, “Banksy Versus Bristol Museum,” which opened June 13 and continues until the end of August.
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