The child using a life preserver as a tire swing near the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Reynes Street in the Lower 9th Ward was one of Banksy's simplest and most poignant images. It was soon defaced with red paint. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Hotel-owner and real estate developer Sean Cummings has put a long-lost Banksy stencil back on public view (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
'The Looters,' was the most controversial of Banksy's 2018 New Orleans stencils (Photo by Doug Maccash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The child using a life preserver as a tire swing near the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Reynes Street in the Lower 9th Ward was one of Banksy's simplest and most poignant images. It was soon defaced with red paint. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
In the final version of Banksy's 2008 Clio Street painting, the graffiti eradicator has obliterated the entire sunflower.
A Banksy graffiti painting, vandalized on Christmas, was restored by fast-acting artists
While New Orleans was distracted by the approach of Hurricane Gustav in August 2008, the superstar British graffiti artist Banksy stole into town. He and assistants then produced a suite of more-or-less 15 stencil paintings, many of which were poetic commentaries on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 flood. Only two or three Banksy's remain intact in the location where they painted. (Photo by Tony O. Champagne, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Banksy'€™s masterpiece, in my opinion, was the short-lived child with refrigerator kite at near the corner of McShane Place (St. Claude Avenue) and St. Anthony Street. Refrigerators were a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 flood. Coupling that memory with a child flying a kite was brilliant. If you look carefully you may discern a row of flowers and figures that were part of an earlier Banksy that the artist painted over. The child with refrigerator painting was soon painted over as well. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy'€™s charming take on The Simpsons cartoon at the corner of St. Bernard Avenue and N. Robertson Street was covered with plywood before it could be defaced. (Staff photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
The child frightened by a rat on N. Villere Street near St. Ann Street in the Treme neighborhood was painted on a 19th-century brick structure. It was later ruined by tagging. Later still, the wall was demolished. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy's Homeless Lincoln at S. Derbigny Street near Canal Street greeted commuters at a busy highway down ramp. The building where the painting was located has been demolished, as have many of the buildings that were once Banksy canvases. For a detailed account of the state of the paintings five years after they were painted read the 2010 story: "Banksy fifth anniversary tour recalls 2008 New Orleans visit." (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy's painting of soldiers caught looting at Elysian Fields Avenue near Decatur Street was protected with removable varnish and plywood. But was soon vandalized and painted over. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
I never laid eyes on Banksy'€™s lost umbrella stencil on the Industrial Canal flood wall. It was swiftly painted over. I missed four other Banksys: A marching band wearing gas masks on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard that was swiftly painted over. A trumpet player on a porch. A small stencil of a turtle with an army helmet for a shell. A small rat. If you have photos of those Banksy's that you'd like to see published in this slideshow on NOLA.com and/or The Times-Picayune newspaper, please send them with your permission to dmaccash@nola.com. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
The graffiti eradicator at Clio and Carondelet Streets. is one of the two or three Banksy's that remain where they were originally painted. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
The child using a life preserver as a tire swing near the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Reynes Street in the Lower 9th Ward was one of Banksy's simplest and most poignant images. It was soon defaced with red paint. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
'The Looters,' was the most controversial of Banksy's 2018 New Orleans stencils (Photo by Doug Maccash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The child using a life preserver as a tire swing near the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Reynes Street in the Lower 9th Ward was one of Banksy's simplest and most poignant images. It was soon defaced with red paint. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
In the final version of Banksy's 2008 Clio Street painting, the graffiti eradicator has obliterated the entire sunflower.
A Banksy graffiti painting, vandalized on Christmas, was restored by fast-acting artists
Banksy'€™s masterpiece, in my opinion, was the short-lived child with refrigerator kite at near the corner of McShane Place (St. Claude Avenue) and St. Anthony Street. Refrigerators were a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 flood. Coupling that memory with a child flying a kite was brilliant. If you look carefully you may discern a row of flowers and figures that were part of an earlier Banksy that the artist painted over. The child with refrigerator painting was soon painted over as well. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy'€™s charming take on The Simpsons cartoon at the corner of St. Bernard Avenue and N. Robertson Street was covered with plywood before it could be defaced. (Staff photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
The child frightened by a rat on N. Villere Street near St. Ann Street in the Treme neighborhood was painted on a 19th-century brick structure. It was later ruined by tagging. Later still, the wall was demolished. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy's Homeless Lincoln at S. Derbigny Street near Canal Street greeted commuters at a busy highway down ramp. The building where the painting was located has been demolished, as have many of the buildings that were once Banksy canvases. For a detailed account of the state of the paintings five years after they were painted read the 2010 story: "Banksy fifth anniversary tour recalls 2008 New Orleans visit." (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
Banksy's painting of soldiers caught looting at Elysian Fields Avenue near Decatur Street was protected with removable varnish and plywood. But was soon vandalized and painted over. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
I never laid eyes on Banksy'€™s lost umbrella stencil on the Industrial Canal flood wall. It was swiftly painted over. I missed four other Banksys: A marching band wearing gas masks on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard that was swiftly painted over. A trumpet player on a porch. A small stencil of a turtle with an army helmet for a shell. A small rat. If you have photos of those Banksy's that you'd like to see published in this slideshow on NOLA.com and/or The Times-Picayune newspaper, please send them with your permission to dmaccash@nola.com. (Staff Photo, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
The graffiti eradicator at Clio and Carondelet Streets. is one of the two or three Banksy's that remain where they were originally painted. (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune).
A painting by the fabled British street artist Banksy that was thought to be destroyed years ago, has been rediscovered and is being restored. The painting, which depicts a child playing on a rope swing that was made from a life preserver, was stenciled on the exterior of a flooded Lower 9th Ward saloon that has since been demolished.
But according to a CBS news report, the 20-some concrete blocks upon which the image had been painted were recovered and preserved by "a dump truck driver with an eye for art."
Those blocks are now in the possession of art-loving real estate developer and hotel owner Sean Cummings, who plans to return the painting to its former glory. Which won’t be easy since the Banksy had been vandalized with scarlet spray paint before the building was razed. Presumably, that paint will need to be removed without damaging the original artwork underneath.
Internationally renowned street artist Banksy installed multiple pieces of public art in New Orleans three years after Hurricane Katrina. But over the years the tributes have been covered up with different street art, political posters and plexiglass. Jamie Wax speaks to restoration artists on their effort to save the artworks.
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If the conservation project comes to pass as hoped, it will be the second Banksy that Cummings has preserved. Banksy's controversial painting of National Guard looters on Elysian Fields Avenue was soon covered with layers of graffiti tags and pasted posters.
But by 2017, the painting had been sawed from the stucco wall that held it and meticulously restored. The artwork, still affixed to a 1600-pound piece of cement wall, is now on display in Cumming’s International House Hotel, at 221 Camp St.
At the time, Cummings said he’d spent $50,000 on the project, employing conservation professionals who used everything from precision sandblasting to the razor-sharp tips of scalpels to remove the layers of vandalism that covered the looters.
Hotel-owner and real estate developer Sean Cummings has put a long-lost Banksy stencil back on public view (Photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
While New Orleans was distracted by the approach of Hurricane Gustav in August 2008, Banksy paid a clandestine visit to the Crescent City, where he and assistants created roughly 17 artworks. The paintings poetically captured the long struggle to recover after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the subsequent flood.
Banksy is the world’s most celebrated living artist. But despite his fame, New Orleans wasn’t especially kind to his artworks. Many of the stencils in his Katrina suite were swiftly painted over by property owners, destroyed by taggers or demolished with the buildings that bore them. The best-known survivor is the so-called "Umbrella Girl" at the corner of McShane Place (St. Claude Avenue) and Kerlerec Street and Banksy’s painting of a rival graffiti eradicator “the Gray Ghost” is still visible at the corner of Clio and Carondelet streets.
The value of works by Banksy, whose real name and identity remains unknown, is always a matter of conjecture, but some have sold at auction for millions.
Cummings declined to comment for this story.
While New Orleans was distracted by the approach of Hurricane Gustav in August 2008, the superstar British graffiti artist Banksy stole into town. He and assistants then produced a suite of more-or-less 15 stencil paintings, many of which were poetic commentaries on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 flood. Only two or three Banksy's remain intact in the location where they painted. (Photo by Tony O. Champagne, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Fred Radtke, who conducted a quarter-century-long fight against graffiti in New Orleans, died on Aug. 24 of natural causes, according to a dea…
Vandal cut through plexiglass, sprayed 'Team Robbo' in red paint
It wasn’t easy, but New Orleans hotel owner and real estate developer Sean Cummings has managed to move an 1,600-pound graffiti mural by the B…
The essence of New Orleans is a yin and yang thing. It’s not all killer hurricanes, but it’s not all rainbow snowballs either. It’s a balance …
Email Doug MacCash at dmaccash@theadvocate.com. Follow him on Instagram at dougmaccash, on Twitter at Doug MacCash and on Facebook at Douglas James MacCash.
August 29 is a day many in southeast Louisiana would prefer to mentally skip, fast-forwarding through the emotional toll of the anniversary of…
The iconic “Umbrella Girl” painting by street-art master Banksy was tagged with red spray paint sometime between Christmas Eve and the day aft…
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