Politics aside, does anyone know what the Banksy sketch went for???

The interesting story here is how many strings does ken pull for banksy ?

Location, location, location.

Alsbabar how much did you bid £90,000! Cough "bullshit" cough!

Boris is an out of touch conservative twit... If he is the option besides Ken ? There is no option.

My grandfather died underground in a coal mine in Wales crushed by a piece of machinery.
He was buried before he was even dead. Later on, Maggie Thatchers government came in and destroyed the coal mining industry.

When the poll tax riots happened I was there in Trafalgar square. I sat on top of a telephone box and watched class war kick off in the capitol. It was mayhem. Shortly after I left the country and went to live in California for ten years because it seemed like there was no place for art in the UK. Well thats changed hasn't it.



Margaret Thatcher was a total tw*t and she had bad hair, and I would say the same for Boris Johnson.

Guardian: Art sale gives Livingstone £230,000 boost

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/07/politicsandthearts.livingstone

Ken Livingstone's campaign for re-election as mayor of London received a shot in the arm last night, when an art auction raised £230,000 in support of his candidacy in just over an hour.

The sale featured 38 works by artists including Anthony Gormley, Marc Quinn, Banksy, Mona Hatoum and Ralph Steadman, and in all it brought in nearly a quarter of the total amount each candidate is permitted to spend on campaigning.

Speaking after the auction at the Aquarium gallery in Islington, Livingstone said the event had yielded more than any fund-raising event so far, enabling him to match the sums already raised by his Conservative rival, Boris Johnson.

"We are allowed to spend up to £1m on campaigning. We know that Boris has got a quarter of a million or more, and now we've caught up with him. It's going to be a much fairer fight now."

Most of the money came from a single canvas by the graffiti artist Banksy, which sold to an anonymous bidder for £195,000. The painting shows two children pledging allegiance to a Tesco shopping bag, and is a preliminary sketch for a life-size graffito which appeared on Wednesday on the wall of an Islington pharmacy.

Livingstone himself bought a print of a Steadman cartoon for a £140. He said: "The art world is very in touch with what happens in London. They recognise that if Boris gets in, society would collapse back into barbarism."

A spokeswoman for Rootball, which organised the event, said: "The artists here do not consider themselves political artists, but they do want to affect the political process and support progressive policies for the capital."

Thanks dude... my butterfly painting went for £4500 at the auction last night.. yessmate !

Did anyone who was there record any of the other prices?...

I had a few cheeky early phone votes and need to see how I got on...

you could alway have borris

There'll be one fukin' big party when she dies.............stroll on ;D ;D

Banksy "print" on Essex Road?

You're nearly as confused as the so-called expert my friend.

apologies if it has already been posted



Banksy-esque images purportedly supporting Ken Livingstone's mayoral campaign have sparked a whodunnit mystery after appearing on London walls overnight.

Stencilled chimps and rats - both signature subjects of the secretive urban artist whose work is highly collectible - have sprung up in small side streets urging passers-by to 'Vote Ken'.

Banksy is, reportedly, a Livingstone fan and is said to have recently donated £195,000 from a fundraising auction for one of his paintings to the Labour candidate's election fund. But it is far from certain that the acclaimed graffiti artist is behind these latest works.

Indeed, one group of West Country art students are claiming the spray-canned efforts as their work, created as a protest against Banksy's donation.

'They claimed they did it because they are angry that their hero has given money to a mainstream politico linked to Labour,' one source said.

Calls to Banksy's agent and PR were not returned yesterday, thus prolonging the mystery.

Certainly the chimp, which appeared on a tiny lane in Clerkenwell and in another in the West End, bears a striking resemblance to Banksy's famous Chimpanzee with Sandwich Board image.

But those who believe it is simply a hoax point out that the stark message 'Vote Ken' demonstrates none of the subtle humour of Banksy originals, and that the images fail to interact intelligently with their surroundings - a hallmark of the street artist that has earned him so many fans.

'The message seems to be - vote for Ken and get a rat. Or vote for Ken and get a chimp,' said the source. The fact the students knew exactly where the images are would also seem to tip the balance in their favour.

Usually Banksy claims responsibility for his work, featuring it on his website. But yesterday there was silence. The mystery continues.

arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2275086,00.html

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Bollocks to ken! Raise the roof for Borris!

amen