{"id":96904,"date":"2015-08-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.72point.com\/banksy-blunder-benefit-hindsight\/"},"modified":"2015-08-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T23:00:00","slug":"banksy-blunder-benefit-hindsight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.72point.com\/us\/banksy-blunder-benefit-hindsight\/","title":{"rendered":"Banksy blunder – The benefit of hindsight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BanksyIt\u2019s not quite as bad as being the man who failed to sign the Beatles but sometimes, as I crawl to work through Bristol traffic on a dismal Monday morning, it feels that way.<\/p>\n

In the late 90s, I began to notice funny and subversive graffiti emerging around the city.\u00a0 A rat here, a clown there, a thought-provoking stencilled slogan amid a scrabble of tags.<\/p>\n

One particularly striking image appeared overnight on the side of a pub next to our old office on Hotwells Road opposite the SS Great Britain.\u00a0 It was of a screaming clown with Kiss-style eye make-up, toting two pistols.\u00a0 For some unaccountable reason it cheered me up every time I saw it.<\/p>\n

While talking one day with a pal who owned a skateboard store off Park Street, I learned that the artist responsible was known as Banksy.\u00a0 I filed the information away and continued to enjoy his work as it cropped up throughout Bristol, experiencing a kind of old school \u2018I Spy\u2019 thrill every time I found one.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2000, and the announcement that Banksy was making the move towards the more traditional medium of canvas, and marking this with an exhibition at the Severnshed restaurant<\/a>. I went along.\u00a0 Although many of the paintings bore red \u2018sold\u2019 stickers (prices were in the high hundreds, rather than today\u2019s astronomical figures) the event itself, it seemed to me, was sparsely attended.<\/p>\n

I met and chatted with Banksy\u2019s then manager Robert Birse, in the course of which I was invited to visit the man\u2019s studio, which I jumped at.<\/p>\n

If memory serves, the near-derelict space was tucked away in Bedminster.\u00a0 I\u2019d persuaded my news editor that there was something very interesting going on here, although the Banksy phenomenon was still a long way off.<\/p>\n

During the course of the visit, I enthused as was shown various canvasses, including one particularly strong image \u2013 an elephant with a missile strapped to its back, against a vivid pink background.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frame on that one is slightly off,\u201d said Robert.\u00a0 \u201cIf you hold it up you\u2019ll see it\u2019s a bit skew-iff.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was.\u00a0 It meant it wouldn\u2019t hang completely flat.\u00a0 \u201cStill amazing though,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

Robert thought for a moment and then said:\u00a0 \u201cWell, you could have that one for a reduced rate, if you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo \u2026 how much?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSay \u00a3300?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, at the time I was a pretty hard-up reporter with three children to support and another on the way.\u00a0 Three hundred quid bought a lot of nappies and Wet Wipes. But still \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cBut is it OK if I give you a cheque for \u00a3100 now and pay the rest over the next couple of months?\u201d<\/p>\n

He agreed, and I loaded the piece into the back of my battered Peugeot 205.<\/p>\n

Back at the office, I phoned my wife and \u2013 having spent the journey back planning the best way of pitching the purchase (investment\/it\u2019s beautiful\/it\u2019ll cover that dodgy bit of plastering in the front room) \u2013 recounted the tale.<\/p>\n

An ominous silence.\u00a0 A reaaaalllllllly long, ominous silence.\u00a0 Then:\u00a0 \u201cYou know we can\u2019t afford it, so I don\u2019t even know why you\u2019d consider this. \u00a0It\u2019ll have to go back.\u00a0 And you need to get the bloke to tear up the cheque before he banks it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The channel for negotiation had clanged shut.\u00a0 I muttered something about a loan, or perhaps borrowing some money from a parent or a mate, but we were already overdrawn to the hilt, and this was met with a dangerous snort.<\/p>\n

So back it went.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried to \u201ctake a positive\u201d from this over the years, but I can\u2019t. I experience a pang \u2013 actually it\u2019s more of a stab \u2013 every time I read about a Banksy selling at auction, or something like the wonderful\u00a0Dismaland<\/a> opening its rusty doors to the public.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s anything I learned from my own very personal Banksygate it\u2019s this.\u00a0 If you love a piece of art for what you believe it to be \u2013 something you love \u2013 then buy it, if you reasonably can.\u00a0 Absurd as it sounds now, I genuinely didn\u2019t have the spending power at the time, but I guess I could have rustled up the cash somehow.<\/p>\n

The other thing I take comfort and joy from is that I can still see and enjoy Banksys every day, in the streets here in Bristol.\u00a0 He even painted a commemorative flower over the trigger-happy clown on Hotwells Road, which always raises a smile.\u00a0 I see them every day, and they\u2019re free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not quite as bad as being the man who failed to sign the Beatles but sometimes, as I crawl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[269,277,301,305,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pr-insight","category-featured","category-topical","category-just-saying","category-celebrity"],"yoast_head":"\nBanksy blunder - The benefit of hindsight - 72Point.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.72point.com\/us\/banksy-blunder-benefit-hindsight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banksy blunder - 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