Banksy - Cult artist’s agents deny garden graffiti is genuine – but the regulars at a Primrose Hill pub love it!

Published: 17 June 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

REPRESENTATIVES of the guerilla graffiti artist Banksy have denied he is responsible for artwork discovered in a Primrose Hill pub garden.

The spray-painted images at the Princess of Wales fooled several newspapers and national TV programmes last week into thinking they were featuring images of the phantom artist’s latest work.

And pub CCTV stills raised the suggestion that he had finally been caught on camera while at work.

But the mystery surrounding its sudden appearance in the Chalcot Road pub’s refurbished garden deepened this week when the artist confirmed through his publicity agents that it had nothing to do with him.

The familiar stencil-style image of a little girl with a balloon had got pub regulars and managers thinking he had climbed over a wall in the still of night and decorated their garden.

Landlady Karen Santi said: “We were told by a regular who is very high up in the art world that the reason Banksy’s spokeswoman is denying it is because he is supposed to be this elusive artist and he’s been caught on camera. 

“This is a long established community pub that’s been here forever and speculation that this might be a PR stunt is ridiculous.”

Followers of Banksy’s work, however, remain unconvinced he was involved. 

Describing the image of the girl holding a heart-shaped balloon as a “poorly executed copy” of one the street artist’s famous images, Michael Rushmore, who writes the Vandalog, an influential blog dedicated to street art, said: “The artist has taken one of Banksy’s images but it hasn’t been executed very well, and it just so happens to look pretty good with the mirror decorations that the pub has. 

“It would be very odd for Banksy to choose a private garden where you’ve got to buy a drink even to see it.”

Another graffiti blogger, who goes by the name No Lions In England, added: “Banksy has done  paintings, stencils and mural in private premises, but one thing every one of those creations had in common was that Banksy was involved in a show on those premises at the time. I am not aware of Banksy having done a show in the Princess Of Wales.”

Last week the landlords told how they mistook the mural for an act of vandalism and nearly painted over it before a younger member of staff warned it could be valuable.

They are now in the process of getting the mural verified as genuine, but have been told by art specialists the process could take up to a year.

A Banksy spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that the mural you have asked me about in Primrose Hill is not by the artist Banksy.”

But Ms Santi added: “We have had a positive reaction from many art enthusiasts who think it’s fantastic whether it’s real or not.”