Hazard at Guess: Banksy encourages shoplifting at this retailer
Misty Severi
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British street artist Banksy encouraged shoplifters on social media Friday to target a Guess store in London after claiming the store used his designs without permission.
The street artist posted an image of the Guess storefront on Instagram. The Regent Street location displayed his “Flower Thrower” graffiti along with clothes bearing some of his famous works, according to his social media post.
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“Attention all shoplifters,” Banksy posted on Instagram. “Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?”
The store has since closed to shoppers, increased security, and covered up its windows display, according to the BBC.
The artist is currently in Ukraine, and he showcased seven new art pieces in the war-torn country. Included in the new pieces are a woman in rollers and a gas mask holding a fire extinguisher and a man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin being thrown to the floor by a child in a judo match.
Another one, located on the side of a residential building in the suburb of Irpin, showcased a gymnast wearing a neck brace and performing with a ribbon. The gymnast was balanced on a hole in the wall.
The artist also interviewed a mother and her child outside the remains of a school.
“It was a bomb here and many people died,” the mother explained. “My child used to go to this kindergarten. … We don’t have any tears left.”
Banksy first rose to prominence in the 1990s but returned to mainstream attention in 2018 when footage of one of his art pieces shredding itself at an auction went viral.
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Banksy has gained fame in part because of his anonymity. The artist recently won a trademark court case that has allowed him to remain anonymous after a judge ruled in 2020 that he could not hold a copyright while remaining anonymous.