A new Banksy always causes a stir around the world. For Valentine's Day, a motif appears on a house wall in south-east England. The picture includes a freezer that someone threw away. And that's a thorn in the side of the authorities.
The joy of a new Banksy was short-lived at Grosvenor Place in Margate, in the southeastern English county of Kent. After media worldwide reported on the street artist's motif on Valentine's Day, it was "destroyed" in the afternoon. City officials removed a freezer that had been part of the Banksy motif.
Because the picture shows a woman in the style of the 1950s. The woman is wearing an apron and yellow rubber gloves, has a black eye and is missing a tooth. Next to her was the freezer that someone had apparently dumped on the wall of the house. Two legs with men's shoes stuck out of it - again in typical Banksy style. The picture only allows one conclusion, the woman has just pushed her partner into a freezer. Apparently it's about domestic violence.
Only the chest, as well as other garbage, has now been removed. That's why the picture now seems a bit incomprehensible. The mysterious artist called the work "Valentine's Day Mascara" and also published pictures of it on his Instagram account. According to British media, the title is a reference to the infamous Prohibition-era St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929, when seven North Side Gang members and associates were shot dead in Chicago.
According to eyewitnesses, the picture was taken on Monday morning. In Margate, numerous people appeared on the house wall with the Banksy picture over the course of Tuesday to photograph themselves with the work. A statement from the community said the mural was on the wall of a private property. However, the freezer was on public property and had been removed for safety reasons.
The chest freezer is now in storage and will be returned "once it has been made safe for the public". We will also be speaking to the property owners to discuss options for preserving the artwork. Banksy images have been vandalized in the past. Sometimes thieves tried to break them out of the underground to sell them. Also famous is the auction of a Banksy picture, which after the auction was largely shredded from the picture frame it was in. A case like the one in Margate has not yet been reported.
