Ok so whos got one of these and what do you want for it???

Just wondered what you think to my new 21st century love canvas. its a good copy i reckon. my friend did it for me

Yer, its alright - bit cheaper than an original i bet...

I like!!! Does he want to do anymore?

Its good but...If he can paint that well then why not do something different. Then again if thats what you wanted I think it has been well executed.

Agreed, what did it cost, Is it in Oils or Acrylic?

CR it was £400 for the 140cm x 140cm canvas, he would do a print sixe one for £250, and considering the detail i think thats really good value. He does stencils like GWB for £30, and they look fucking brilliant too. He did a Napalm which is absolutely spot on.

Point is that if there is a micallef original of which there is no print edition, if you can get a good image of it, then this guy can do it for you. Now obviously its not the original and you will always know it isnt, but there is no other way of you ever having that image on your wall, even if you were a billionaire it might never come up for sale. So i think that if you can get an exact copy done, just for your own viewing pleasure then it is money well spent. I have seen many people on here on 'what is your favourite banksy image' or 'what is your favourite micallef image' posts mention original works and then say 'so there is no chance of me ever owning it'.

I know some of you dont see the pont in buying something like this, but i love the image and i dont care that this is worthless, i didnt buy it for an investment, i bought it to hang on my wall.

looks brilliant mate, would love one! i was thinking of creating a few replica banksy prints as i work in a design/ print house just without the pow stamp and signature but my thread got pulled after all of ten seconds! i think its a great way to offer unaffordable to the masses art, and still with a high level of skill involved!

yes, its my girl with balloon copy

Verbal - you've got yourself a very nice Mic repro there and at a fraction of the cost of what the real thing would have set you back. I can completely understand why forum members are resorting to making copies of works. With the current market prices, the desirable pieces are now far beyond most people's financial means. Quite aside from the fact that certain images are one-off originals, which we may never see come up for sale again.

However, I'm very much against the practice of people making reproductions, offering them to the public and charging money for them! Not only is this a blatant infringement of an artist's copyright, but it leads to a serious risk of copies finding their way into the open market and being passed off as originals. At some point down the line an innocent punter may end up paying substantial sums of money for a piece which is pretty much worthless.

While Verbal's Mic copy is awesome, it's immediately recognizable as a copy. Therefore, I think there's little chance it could ever be passed off as an original. Plus I don't believe that Verbal would ever intend to - he's obviously commissioned it for his personal enjoyment.

That doesn't mean however that I think artist's should be encouraged to produce reproductions. While it's probably more effort than it's worth to produce a perfect reproduction of one of the more intricate Mics (though I'm sure a professional forger could), other works such as most of Banksy's stencils are easy to fake. Look at the debate that's currently raging about the authenticity of the Bombhugger canvas on ebay.

I know that Banksy makes some of his own images available for people to print out for personal enjoyment. However, this is very different from a third party artist reproducing the works for profit.

I appreciate that people think they're just offering other members of the forum a valuable service. Though, IMO this practice shouldn't be encouraged.

Verbal - like I said, I'm certain your intentions are 100% honourable and I'm glad you get to enjoy the piece. I hope my post didn't make it sound like you were acting as some sort of agent for your artist friend.

However, I do think it was worthwhile expressing my concerns and giving people some food for thought. I just do not think this practice should be encouraged.

Exactly
Clearly state it's a repro should equal no problems

That would certainly go a long way to resolving the issue of fakes in the market. Though, I have issues with somebody exploiting an artist's work for commercial advantage without the permission of that artist. Call me an old fashioned supporter of the notion of copyright.

yeah i definatly see your point and on a moral level agree, i just feel much reproduction is unavoidable with a piece in such demand, you can only take someones word that they are recreating them for personal satisfaction and to offer a few people the same option rather than infringing on the art/banksy/print market