Artist Banksy has issued a statement that over 200 art works supposedly by him are in fact fakes .Pest Control, the association set up by Banksy, said 89 street pieces and 137 screen prints have been falsely attributed to him. Pest Control does not authenticate street pieces because Banksy prefers street work to remain in situ and building owners tend to become irate when their doors go missing because of a stencil. Banksy has a casual attitude to copyright and encourages the reproduction of his work for your own personal amusement, so it’s with regret that he finds himself having to deem pieces either ‘real’ or ‘fake’. He would encourage anyone wanting to purchase one of his images to do so with extreme caution, but does point out that many copies are superior in quality to the originals.
A new auction of work by Banksy takes place tomorrow . The artist has not authenticated the pieces but the auctioneers, Lyon & Turnbull, insist that they are genuine.
They include Refuse Rat, which is expected to fetch £20,000, and Fungle Junk (£150,000), consisting of three panels painted on to the side of a trailer at a festival in Cornwall in 1999.
A spokesman for the auctioneers said: “Banksy hasn’t said they are fake.
I don’t know why he’s not authenticated them…