Famed British street artist Banksy netted well over half a million dollars Thursday night for a charity that auctioned off a “vandalized” thrift-store painting he created.
A bidder identified as “gorpetri” placed the winning offer of $615,000. The dated and signed artwork drew 138 bids after starting off at a minimum offer of $74,000, with the going rate doubling in the last half hour of the auction.
Proceeds from the auction went to Housing Works, a charity that benefits the homeless and people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
The Banksy work, titled “The banality of the banality of evil,” was created by adding a man in a Nazi uniform to the foreground of a landscape painting purchased for $50 at a Housing Works thrift shop, according to Gothamist.
Banksy’s New York “residency” ended Thursday. Over the course of the month-long project some of the street artist’s work, especially his tribute to the Twin Towers, struck a chord with New Yorkers. The anonymous artist also ruffled a few feathers by posting an op-ed to his website critical of the new World Trade Center tower’s design, boasting that the New York Times rejected the piece.
Photo by TPM’s Nick R. Martin
This post has been updated.
