Miniatures of a graffiti-covered barn and girl sold for nearly $900,000.
The play Merrivale’s stable, composed of a stable covered in graffiti, a curious horse and the effigy of a girl, by the artist Banksy, was sold at Anderson and Garland auctions for £800,000, the equivalent of $891,480.
It is one of Banksy’s most recent works, first appearing in the summer of 2021, on the Merrivale scale medieval village, one of the major tourist attractions in the city of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, during the Great British Spraycation exhibition.
The works were exhibited for three days before entering the bid, this January 27. Proposals were expected to reach a million pounds, but the price was slightly lower.
The legend on the front of the barn simply says BANKSY, but on the sides it reads GO BIG OR GO HOME. A tiny mouse, in a corner, holds a sign in which he assures that it is “a luxury house for sale”.
Despite the biting phrases, the work will mean a respite for Merrivale Model Village, which has seen a greater influx of tourists since then.
During the tour Spraycation, Banksy sent a drone, from which the work fell, inadvertently, in the middle of the park. It wasn’t discovered until when tourists started demanding to “see Banksy.” Organizers and sellers found it two days later, Anderson & Garland auctioneer Iain Byatt-Smith said.
One of the visitors to the auction, Stephen Ray, commented that he doesn’t even like the work, but he finds the artist’s idea of dropping something in the village interesting, “but not to pay seven figures”.
Another viewer, Allan Dunn, declared himself fascinated to see such a small and portable Banksy, since the artist prefers to paint on the walls of buildings, bus stops and the like. “It is very good to be able to appreciate his intelligence.” (AND)
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