2 males charged with stealing a well-known Banksy picture from a London artwork gallery
LONDON — Two males have been charged with housebreaking over the theft of an art work by avenue artist Banksy from a London gallery, police stated Friday.
The Metropolitan Police pressure stated Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, are alleged to have taken “Woman with Balloon” from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night time.
The suspects appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Courtroom on Thursday and had been ordered detained till their subsequent listening to on Oct. 9.
Police say they’ve recovered the work, which is valued in court docket paperwork at 270,000 kilos ($355,000).
The stolen work is one in every of a number of variations of “Woman with Balloon,” a stenciled picture of a kid reaching for a heart-shaped purple balloon. Initially stenciled on a wall in east London, the image has been endlessly reproduced, turning into one in every of Banksy’s best-known pictures.
One other model partially self-destructed throughout a 2018 public sale, passing by way of a shredder hidden in its body simply after it was bought for 1.1 million kilos ($1.4 million) at Sotheby’s.
The self-shredded work, retitled “Love is within the Bin,” offered for 18.6 million kilos ($25.4 million on the time) in 2021.
Bansky, who has by no means confirmed his full identification, started his profession spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has turn out to be one of many world’s best-known artists. His mischievous and sometimes satirical pictures embrace two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with an indication bearing the phrases, “Snort now, however in the future I’ll be in cost.”
His work and installations promote for tens of millions of {dollars} at public sale and have drawn thieves and vandals.
This summer time a collection of animal-themed stencils confirmed up round London. One among them, a howling wolf on a satellite tv for pc dish, was eliminated by a masked man lower than an hour after it was confirmed as genuine. A picture of a gorilla at London Zoo and piranhas in a police sentry field in London’s monetary district had been each eliminated by the authorities for safekeeping.
