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The stencilled artwork after it was defaced, alongside the mysterious message, “ALL THE BEST – VIDA” |
Vida, vidi, vici? Banksy gets blotted out while Camden burns... but was it really the work of a rival artist?
First the mantelpiece, then the maid – outcry as iconic Chalk Farm street art is obliterated
WHILE the Hawley Arms and the Lock Market burned in the fire on Saturday night, away from the spectators another Camden icon was being destroyed.
Banksy’s stencilled maid – long protected by both Camden Council and the Roundhouse, on whose wall she resides – was defaced beyond recognition by a rogue graffiti artist. It is thought to be beyond saving.
The whitewash attack in Regent’s Park Road was made under cover of darkness, with a sarcastic calling card wishing “All the Best – Vida” left spray-painted at the scene.
The actions of the mysterious “Vida” fly in the face of an unspoken law practised by council officials, which has seen Banksy’s street art preserved, even retouched, while all other artistic offerings on the same wall – the most recent a life-sized wooden mantelpiece – are swiftly removed.
Roundhouse chief executive Marcus Davey decried the destruction of a “visual arts icon”.
He said: “I not only love the work but I have seen a great many people come from far and wide to be photographed with her. I don’t know how much money it could have been worth but it was very special to the Roundhouse and it is a shame that whoever did this just covered it up with white paint rather than make some kind of credible artistic statement.”
Mr Davey’s disappointment was echoed by others. Carolyn Broadribb, a bartender at The Enterprise Pub opposite the Banksy site, said: “You don’t get proper graffiti in Camden apart from Banksy. There’s no thought put into most of it. The people who would do this are just stupid – they don’t know why Banksy is important. Let’s hope Banksy will come back and do it again.”
Jasper Harvey, 16, had come from Southend to go shopping and see the artwork.
He said: “People say it’s graffiti but it’s art. The maid was a landmark and looked much better than what’s here now.”
Belsize Park resident Daniel Joshua, who passes the maid on his way to work every day, said: “I did a double-take – it’s a local legend. It’s jealousy.”
It is not the first time the chambermaid has come under attack. Last year her face was scratched by vandals but later repaired, allegedly by Banksy himself.
It pales in comparison to the most recent attack though: a sorry-looking pair of shoes is now all that remains of the original art work by one of the UK’s most well-known artists, which would have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in the current Banksy-obsessed art market.
But fellow street artist Jef Aerosol, whose work also adorns the walls of Camden, believes the furore over Banksy is misguided.
He said: “Street art shouldn’t be forever. Painting on the walls is like a gift to the people, it shouldn’t have a value.
“Of course it’s dispiriting if you come the following day and it’s gone but don’t work on the street if you want your work to last forever.” |
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