Canvas Detroit

Banksy

10 18 The Banksy is now on public display at 555 Nonprofit Gallery in their new quarters in a repurposed police station in Mexicantown. Banksy A Banksy lives in Detroit Legend has it that the famously reclusive British street artist made a pilgrimage to Detroit sometime in 2010 to add his mark to the city’s most visited industrial ruin, the crumbling old Packard car plant. Banksy’s mark in Motown features a seven-foot-by-seven-foot stenciled mural of a boy artist toting a can of red paint. Next to him are the words “I remember when all this was trees.” The painting was instantly hailed as an original and one more reason for public art and graffiti purists to descend on Detroit. Only those who moved quickly got a chance to view the mural, as Banksy must have intended, on a wall inside the remains of the hollowed-out Packard plant. Over the years, other images found around Detroit have been linked to the artist, but all were destroyed before they could be traced back to the graffiti giant. Artists from Detroit’s 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios swooped in to rescue the image from destruction. They took the entire fifteen-hundred-pound wall with the help of an oxyacetylene torch, a mini-tractor, and a gas-powered masonry saw. The gallery also took a ton of criticism for boldly disrespecting the location Banksy chose. The artists have insisted that they were acting in the name of artistic preservation. “We’re watching this beautiful city crumble around us and we can’t do anything to stop it,” Carl W. Goines, executive director and co-founder of the 555 Gallery, told the Detroit Free Press. “So with this fine-art piece—and it’s not just everyday graffiti that you might whiz by—here was our opportunity to do something. It would have been destroyed if we didn’t make the effort.” Reportedly, gallery supporters helped raise $250,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the Packard plant’s owner. Images of Banksy’s Packard mural have shown up on the official Banksy website, www.banksy.co.uk. They continue to make the rounds in street-art circles and on the Internet. Still, the world is left to wonder whether Banksy would approve of the fate that has befallen his only known work in Detroit. Perhaps he’ll make his way back to make another mark on Detroit. J. Monte Martinez, creative director of 555 Gallery (Photo: Dave Krieger) 19 Today, the slab of concrete that Banksy tagged amid the remains of the Packard plant exists in, of all places, a gallery. Carl W. Goines, executive director of 555 Gallery (Photo: Dave Krieger) 20 The Banksy at the Packard Plant site before its removal. (Photo: Billyvoo) PHOTO PROGRESSION: The removal of the artwork was a difficult undertaking considering its location and immense weight. (Photos: Jason Matthews) 21 TOP RIGHT: This painting was in the Cass Cooridor and lasted only a short while before being power washed off the building. (Photo: Rebecca Solano) TOP LEFT: The tightrope-walking rat was painted on an occupied industrial building, but was quickly painted over. (Photo: Billyvoo) BOTTOM LEFT: The canary was painted in the Packard Plant. (Photo: Billyvoo) BOTTOM RIGHT: The girl with a diamond was on a drycleaner’s wall and didn’t last long before somebody removed her brick by brick. (Photo: Becks Davis) ...