Update: Happy April Fools Day!
See also “Feral Swine Spotted near GM Poletown”, “Biotech Startup Coming to Hamtramck”, “Under the Painted Lady“, “Hustler Club at Shoppers World“, “Cashing in on Bankruptcy“, “City manager replacement found“, and “Religious Manufacturer Breaking Ground”.
I must say, I am surprised at the amount of attention this received. About 100 people took pictures, 2 women added their own work, 3 groups checked the mounts, one man took a discarded cane from behind the bulletin board, and one very nervous person in all black clothing partially removed one of the screws.
The replica of “Laugh Now” is a real painting, but it was produced with the help of talented Detroit artists who may take credit if they wish. The quotes by Banksy are from this article on Forbes.com. The rest is just plain made up.
A stencil on the corner of Sobieski and Commor in Hamtramck was painted by none other than British street artist Banksy.
This work is based on an earlier piece, “Laugh Now”, commissioned for a Brighton night club in 2002. The new message can only be a reference to the 555 Gallery and their intention to sell part of a wall taken from the Packard Plant in Detroit.
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.”
