A Banksy painting has just sold for £7.5 at auction, at what they call a “Sotheby’s event” yesterday, following what was described as “a near nine minute battle between collectors”. (Visualise the rich men punching one another!) The painting in question is a “reimagining” (there’s another fine bit of terminology) of Monet’s waterlilies picture, with added abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone.
He’s come a long way for a graffiti artist, has Banksy. Graffiti may still be illegal but I’m not sure he still needs the protection of anonymity any longer. But even his anonymity is a sort of trademark, I suppose, and whenever one of his works pops up there is always that frisson moment of “is it really a Banksy?”.
But how crazy is it that collectors are daggers-drawn over who can pay silly amounts of money for his work? Or any work of art for that matter? At least nowadays the likes of Banksy get to benefit from the “value” of their work, unlike the artists of the past whose work only made huge amounts of money after the creators were long dead. Even so, £7.5 is a ridiculous amount of money for a painting. What I find especially galling is that so many works of art are then locked away in vaults, too valuable to be on display!
Imagine how many school dinners could have been provided for children from poor families with that sum of money!
How many of the MPs who voted against continuing free school meals through school holidays have works of art hanging on walls on their homes? It’s more than shocking that here and now, in one of the richest countries in the world in the 21st century, there are children going hungry. It’s more than shocking that MPs could vote against measures to help feed them. And the argument against continuing the free school meals from holidays is equally shocking: the scheme was devised so that children would not be so hungry that they could not concentrate on their lessons! So it’s perfectly all right for them to be hungry when they don’t have lessons to concentrate on, is it? The parents who can’t find the money to feed their children during term time can magically do so during school holidays, can they?
Maybe they can take the hungry children to an art gallery. Oops, no, they probably can’t do that in Greater Manchester at the moment. I’m not sure whether art galleries are allowed to be open under tier 3. And anyway, they would probably have to travel on public transport to get there and we are advised only to make essential journeys at the moment.
Newsnight on BBC2 was singularly depressing last night with a report on three young Somali women beaten up in a racist attack at the end of last year - a crime whose investigation was totally bungled with, among other things, the victims being asked whether they had been trying to buy anything from their attackers! - the report on the government’s voting down free school meals holidays, and general mayhem around the world.
I see the downward spiral continues!
Which brings me to American Pie, Don McLean’s enigmatic song written half a century ago. Apparently on one occasion when asked what the song meant he is said to have replied that it meant he was able to become very rich! Good for him! Now it seems that to mark the anniversary a new documentary, “The Day the Music Died”, is going to be released. A Broadway Show is also planned for 2020. And there is going to be a children’s book. A children’s book? Really? Are there no new ideas for musical shows? And I find it hard to visualise a children’s book based on the song.
Oh, boy! Bring back Pinky and Perky!
Meanwhile, I am waiting for the weather to improve. It was dull and grey when I went running first thing. We have had drizzly rain in the late morning. The forecast promises an improvement this afternoon and right now, middle of the day, the sun is trying to come out.
It’s not all doom and gloom after all. Maybe we can go adventuring this afternoon.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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