Has Banksy been swallowed up by the system?

In one of the two rooms of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid where

is exhibited

(

) is the original screenprint for the

series

, one of the best-known works by the British artist whose identity is unknown.

Next to the piece, a video loops the moment when this drawing self-destructs after being auctioned at Sotheby's in 2018 for more than one million euros.

The criticism of the capitalist system that the creator made that day looks directly at the original piece, now in the hands of a private collector, and that can only be seen if the 16.50 euros of the general admission of an exhibition that does not is licensed (like all) by Banksy.

As with the last exhibition of the British artist in Madrid in 2018, more questions arise about the morality and legality of exhibiting his work without his permission than about the content of the work itself.

The more than 70 pieces that are gathered in this new exhibition, 18 of them unique (there are no more copies), belong to private collectors.

In most cases to Lilley Fine Art / Contemporary Art Trader Gallery, based in Lisburn (Northern Ireland).

It is a gallery that is promoted as an expert worldwide on Banksy.

As explained by Rafa Jiménez, one of the people in charge of the exhibition, Lilley Fine Art, like any other collector, demonstrates the authenticity of his pieces by having a 10-pound note torn with the face of Diana of Wales.

It is the document (inspired by a Banksy work) issued by Pest Control, the non-profit organization created by the author to verify his works.

The same does not happen with

, the image of a seated angel, with a cigar and a bottle, which appeared on London Bridge and arrived in Madrid in its original state, that is, on a piece of wall.

It belongs to a collector, Jiménez clarifies, but does not specify how ownership of an object that is part of the urban furniture of a city can be demonstrated.

"The work is valued at three million pounds (3.3 million euros)," he says, "the entire exhibition at more than 10 (about 11 million euros)".

Banksy devises his art to be exhibited outdoors, on the streets of dozens of cities around the world, without having to pay to see it.

And so it is reflected in a large audiovisual installation that guides the visitor through different city maps to find the artist's work.

There are only two places where the creator has allowed commercial exchange: at The Walled Off hotel overlooking the wall in Palestine and at the Gross Domestic Product store, which opened in 2019 in London, to sell works and merchandise and make use of the trademark rights.

With exceptions.

Last September, the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union (euipo) ruled that Banksy can not be recognized as exclusive owner of

(

), which was held in Jerusalem in 2005, since no one can verify your identity.

In this way, Full Color Black, a greeting card company, can continue to market its products.

Market logic

Even so, at the entrance of the exhibition there is a

shop

where you can buy sweatshirts and other objects with images and slogans of the artist.

“These works are not registered in terms of brand identity.

They are objects that can be bought on the internet.

We have only produced the image of the exhibition ”, defends Jiménez.

The way in which Banksy understands urban art as a critique of capitalism, consumer society, the hypervigilance to which citizens are subjected, inequality and many other themes appears in the exhibition that opens the Círculo de Bellas Artes from December 3, 2020 to May 9, 2021. This same amendment to the system has ended up engulfed by that system.

And it is in this debate around the validity of the meaning of Banksy's work that Valerio Rocco Lozano, director of this institution, finds the meaning of organizing the exhibition: “We are interested in its contradictory nature, how it enters into the logic of the market and samples like this can be produced. "

I mean,

tries to explain how the author has jumped from the street to an exhibition hall, an auction or a private gallery.

A part of the exhibition includes images taken by Steve Lazarides, the artist's former right-hand man.

“He photographed many of his interventions and is partly responsible for the works of denunciation being transferred to art galleries,” Jiménez explains.

Only once did the artist give his authorization, it was in an exhibition held in 2009 in collaboration with the Bristol Museum, where he is from, and for which he charged a pound.

"This is the first exhibition that I do in which the taxpayers' money is used to hang my photographs instead of taking them off the walls," he declared then, as can be read on one of the posters of the exhibition.

"We do not shy away from debate or reflection," continues Rocco. “At the Círculo we want to reach different types of public and accompany the exhibition with debates that address the exhibition itself. I assume as director the moral part of this decision and regarding copyright, the legal part, if there are claims, we will also assume it ”. At the moment, Banksy has not spoken through his website, the channel he uses in these cases.