Graffiti by elusive British artist Banksy of the famous painting 'The Raft of the Medusa' which appeared on a wall in the French town of Calais. Photo / banksy.co.uk
Graffiti by elusive British artist Banksy of the famous painting 'The Raft of the Medusa' which appeared on a wall in the French town of Calais. Photo / banksy.co.uk
By Henry Samuel
A Calais resident has painted over a mural by the British street artist Banksy - whose works can fetch millions of pounds - because he said his wall needed a spring clean.
The stenciled mural depicted survivors on a raft after a wreck - a satirical take on the painting 'The Raft of the Medusa' by Théodore Géricault.
The mural - a stone's throw from the notorious "Jungle" refugee camp in Calais home to thousands of refugees hoping to reach Britain - shows survivors trying to attract the attention of a ferry.
It was one of three that the enigmatic British artist had produced in the port town in 2015 on the theme of migrants. But the owner of the building with the The Raft of the Medusa stencil decided that his wall was starting to look shabby, whether or not it was housing a work of art.
"The wall was in a bad way, as was Banksy's work,' he told Nord Littoral, the local newspaper. "You couldn't see the boat on the horizon anymore and the mural was starting to crumble."
He added: "I was on for keeping it, on condition the town hall did what was necessary to safeguard it," he said. However, he said he had received no such assurances.
"Everyone wants to protect this work, but nobody wants to look after it," he said.
Calais still boasts two more Banksy murals. The best known one is of the late Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, carrying a black bag on his shoulder and with an Apple computer in his hand.
The artist said the work was a nod to that fact that Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States. It too has been defaced, by graffiti, and could soon be for the chop.
The only one local authorities are reportedly adamant about safeguarding is of a young child gazing out to sea through a telescope. On top of the child's telescope is a vulture staring down. The work on a building on the town's beach.
The Banksy Steve Jobs artwork in the Calais Jungle is being defaced by other graffiti. Photo / Getty
This is not the first time Banksy works have been painted over.
In March, builders working at a five-star hotel in Jamaica reportedly also covered up a string of stencils around the property.
Banksy had stayed at the exclusive Geejam Hotel in 2006, before it opened to regular guests, and left the works, which had since delighted guests such as Beyonce, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise.
"Builders were called in to spruce up the place and didn't recognise Banksy's scrawl," the anonymous employee was cited as saying. "They thought a rogue visitor had debased the walls, and promptly painted over the ones on the outside of the building.
"When the mistake was realised, they were mortified - as were the owners."
The Geejam Hotel's stencils are rumoured to have been worth £4 million ($7.25m).
