Urban Art Association

i shall be there...think there are 3 new banksy's amongst other things

London Gay Bar to Host Art Auction by Banksy Dealer (Update1)

By Linda Sandler

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- A London gay bar, the Shadow Lounge, will host a $3 million auction on Oct. 11 during the Frieze Art Fair, with works by Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy dealer Steve Lazarides said.

``We're targeting people who might buy, and we want to make it a fun event,'' Lazarides said today in a telephone interview. ``Most art events are a bit stuffy.''

The catalog for the sale, ``The Soho Auction,'' features pictures of prostitutes, some with telephone numbers. Banksy, a former graffiti artist, graduated to the auction rooms in 2004 and has attracted collectors from hedge funds to Hirst.

The auction during the contemporary art fair will be a first for Lazarides, who sells original works by the former graffiti star Banksy, Jamie Hewlett and Antony Micallef out of a gallery on Greek Street. Most of the 20 lots are new works and were gathered directly from the artists, including a Banksy rat picture at 80,000 pounds, Lazarides said.

The Shadow Lounge, described on Web sites as a private club on Brewer Street in London's Soho district that lets in non- members, is a gay pole-dancing bar, Lazarides said. Burlesques will be staged during the auction, and there will be ``various acts through the night,'' he said.

Works by Andy Warhol and Micallef will be auctioned. ``It's a mixture of the old and new,'' Lazarides said. ``All the art is fairly maverick.''

Lazarides's Soho auction will be part of a series of sales by Sotheby's, Christie's International, Phillips de Pury & Co. and Bonhams during Frieze, whose organizers said they expect about 63,000 visits this year.

Rat in Overalls

Banksy will provide three pieces for the auction, Lazarides said. The spray-painted ``Rat With Roller,'' from 2006, wears a pair of overalls and holds a paint pot and a roller. It is a unique work, Lazarides said. ``I took a price of 80,000 pounds because that's what I thought it could get.'' Banksy's other two pictures haven't arrived yet, he said.

Lazarides sold his first Banksy canvases about the year 2000 for 250 pounds. Similar paintings change hands now for 250,000 pounds, he said. Unsigned Banksy prints that he used to sell for 35 pounds now run to 1,000 pounds or more.

Lazarides declined to identify Banksy, who keeps his name a secret. He said he wasn't Banksy himself. Banksy probably wouldn't attend the auction, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net .

Anyone got an image of the released Banksy for sale?

Post some pics then bruv

What a tease........this is like ringing one of them sex lines ;D