Banksy, the notorious international street artist, has again tagged a Detroit-area location, The Hamtramck Star reports. The painting appeared on the corner of Sobieski and Commor in Hamtramck. Like all of Banksy's paintings, the message is cryptic — art experts believe it could possibly be a reference to the 555 Gallery removing a purported Banksy from a Packard Plant wall and attempting to sell it.
Today, a group of art aficionados could be seen buzzing around the painting, tweeting photos and making phone calls. Apparently, the piece has already been authenticated by Pest Control, an independent organization that authenticates the mysterious artist's work.
According to the Star:
We couldn’t believe it either, but when we heard from a friend of a friend that Banksy had again visited Detroit to make a statement about “commercialism, capitalism and the mechanics of the art market”, we sent a request to Pest Control, a service that issues certificates on behalf of the artist. Despite their promise of a “lengthy and challenging process”, they were quick to reply in this case.“Graffiti art has a hard enough life as it is – with council workers wanting to remove it and kids wanting to draw moustaches on it, before you add hedge-fund managers wanting to chop it out and hang it over the fireplace.”
“For the sake of keeping all street art where it belongs I’d encourage people not to buy anything by anybody unless it was created for sale in the first place.”
UPDATE: The plot thickens!
