Banksy: Policeman and balloon dog
N 43° 38.514 W 079° 22.777
17T E 630692 N 4833376
A Banksy graffito is itself defaced by an unknown artist.
Waymark Code: WM8VB2
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/15/2010
Views: 26
Banksy is a UK-based graffiti artist who is known for producing work that is whimsical or political (and sometimes both). His first pieces were done in his hometown of Bristol, UK in the 1980s and now his work can be found in cities around the world.
Banksy was in Toronto in early May 2010, as his new documentary film Exit Through The Gift Shop was being shown at a local festival. During this time, seven new Banksy pieces appeared around Toronto. Within a week, all but two had been removed, painted over, or defaced in some way. This is one of the latter.
The building this painting appears on is the old Ontario Provincial Police headquarters. The original image is of a police officer with a bright pink, muzzled balloon dog on a leash.
But within days of its creation, the image was modified. The police officer has a dodo bird on his head. The dog is saying "Grrr!" And the entire scene is tagged with the slogan "Robbin' Banksy".
What could it all mean? Could it be a reference to "Robin Banks", which some people suspect is Banksy's real name? Could be a reference to a previous version of this image in Los Angeles, where the entire wall containing the painting was stolen one night?
When you visit this waymark, please report on its current condition. Has it been removed by the building management? Has it been defaced by someone else? Do you think that it is appropriate to deface someone else's art, even if that art itself consists of the defacement of someone else's property?