Verification Lawsuit May Force Banksy To Drop The Mask

// At one point, discovering the identity of Banksy may have been a million-dollar question. Now, it could hinge on a painting valued around $90k. From The Guardian:

Two art collectors are taking legal action against [Banksy]’s company, Pest Control, following its apparent refusal to confirm the authenticity of Monkey Queen. After three years of trying to get an answer, Nicky Katz and Ray Howse have lost patience and are suing Pest Control for breach of contract.

They point to Pest Control’s website, which states that it will issue a certificate of authenticity for “paintings, prints, sculptures and other attempts at creativity”. It likens the certificate to “an MOT for the art world”: “[It] means you can buy, sell or insure a piece of art knowing it’s legitimate and the wheels won’t fall off.”

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This is the print the art collectors are going ape shit over:

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Monkey Queen, by Banksy (2003) pic.twitter.com/dUg06HFXJD

— soefira 🦔 🍃 cloud chaser 🌬☁️🌤 (@soefira) April 17, 2022

Pest Control has responded that their authentification process is robust and thorough — presumably as an explanation for why verification has taken so long — but it really shouldn’t be that difficult to give the yea or nay on if the work is bona fide.

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Should the art collectors get a day in court before a verification ceritificate, it is anyone’s guess who will show up as Banksy. There’s speculation that Banksy could be one of several people: Robert Del Naja, Neil Buchanan, Jamie Hewlett, the list goes on. Pest Control should just do its job and hand out the cert, but it would be a missed opportunity to not get all of the suspected Banksies in a courtroom pointing at each other before all of this is over. Could make for some interesting art.

Legal Row Could Finally Force Mystery Artist Banksy To Reveal His Real Name [The Guardian]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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Art Law, Banksy, Courts