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Fans of Banksy can get their hands on his work, ‘Valentine’s Day Mascara’, which is being sold back to the public for £120 a share.
Banksy painted the mural on the side of a house in Margate, with the artwork estimated to be worth £6m, according to an evaluation by Robin Barton of Bankrobber Gallery. ‘Valentine’s Day Mascara’ will now be sold on the ‘fractional ownership’ platform Showpiece, in collaboration with Red Eight Galleries, as 27,000 shares from 22 August 2023.
The controversial artwork depicts a 1950s housewife with a black eye, swollen lip and a missing tooth who appears to have killed her abusive partner. She’s dressed in a gingham dress, apron and rubber gloves while an open chest freezer has two feet sticking out of it.
Banksy has confirmed the artwork is genuine on Instagram, but their studio, Pest Control, has yet to authenticate the mural. As a result, it cannot go for sale at a traditional auction house, explains the Art Newspaper, which first reported on the sale.
Experts removed the mural from its original location in April 2023 with the help of Red Eight Gallery, costing £195,000. It is currently on display at Dreamland Margate, where it’ll be visible to the public for at least another 12 months.
‘Realistically, we are looking to achieve between £1m and £1.5m,’ Red Eight Galleries CEO Julian Usher told the Art Newspaper.
Some of the proceeds from the sale will go to domestic violence charity Refuge, and the mural’s owner has pledged six figures to local Margate charity Oasis, which supports families escaping abuse.
