The Art Newspaper

Banksy rebuffed in Utah

By The Art Newspaper. From In The Frame
Published online: 26 January 2010

While a documentary purported to be by guerrilla street artist Banksy has been making a stir at the Sundance film festival, with crowds lining up to see the film this weekend, his graffiti has not been so well received. Though the elusive spray-painter has yet to be spotted—not even at his own film’s screening—his signature stencils have been popping up on public walls around Park City, Utah, where the annual festival is held. Despite the artist’s quasi-celebrity status, city officials are treating Banksy’s work like any other graffiti and quickly covering it up. “Our official position is that anything that’s put up on public property we’ll have removed within 72 hours,” a city official told the Salt Lake Tribune.