A local council partly dismantled new artwork Tuesday by internationally famous artist Banksy because members claim it is unsafe. The piec...
A local council partly dismantled new artwork Tuesday by internationally famous artist Banksy because members claim it is unsafe.
The piece features a 1950s-style housewife, who has clearly been a victim of domestic violence, pushing a man into a chest freezer. Banksy, known for his social-political graffiti, shared a photograph of the art, entitled “Valentine’s Day Massacre” on his social media, captioning the post, “fighting violence used against women. Even on Valentine’s Day. Always!”
The piece was put up in the English town of Margate on a piece of privately owned property, where the chest freezer had apparently been abandoned for a while, according to the New York Post. Shortly after the piece went up, some members of the Thanet District Council said it was unsafe and took the freezer away.
“The graffiti is situated on a wall of a privately owned property. A fridge freezer which is believed to have been part of the installation has been removed by council operatives on the grounds of safety as it was on public land,” the council members wrote in a statement on their official website.
Apparently, the item will be returned “once it has been made safe to the public,” the council noted. The owner of the private home upon which Banksy painted the mural is also going to be contacted to “discuss options to preserve the artwork for the district,” as if someone wouldn’t want a multi-million dollar piece of artwork on their home?
Listen, part of me understands why the ‘Fun Police’ jumped on this one. No one wants to use taxpayer pennies to send emergency services out to rescue people from a freezer.
Then again, abandoned freezers are only really dangerous in a few small instances: when they fall from the sky and land on someone’s head; when a child hasn’t been raised properly and climbs inside, closing the door behind them; or if you’re trying to eat the freezer. They taste disgusting and will definitely give you an upset tummy.
Perhaps it’s the hippie in me, but whenever the government gets involved in art, they totally miss the point. If anything, this just makes the local council look super uncool and, ironically, not very chill.
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