Banksy art donation makes $23million at Christie’s art auction to help UK Health charities

BY KAZAD

LONDON- Game Changer, a painting donated by Banksy to the University Hospital Southampton (UHS) in May 2020 has sold for £16.7 million ($23.1 million) at Christie’s in London. The mysterious street artist donated the painting to the hospital during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The painting depicts a child playing with a toy Red Cross nurse wearing a cape and a face mask. Near the baby is a basket with Batman and Spiderman figurines laying fallow.

Proceeds from the sale of the painting will go to University Hospital Southampton as well as health organizations and charities across the United Kingdom that contribute to the care and treatment provided by NHS, said the auction house. 

Banksy Superhero Nurse Painting Made a Difference

Game Changer had been on display in a corridor at the hospital until it came to auction. It provided the hospital staff with morale to keep going on despite the devastation before them.

“All the staff have described this painting and the impact it’s had on the hospital as joyous, it has made a huge difference to the morale of the hospital and the people who are working in here,” said Paula Head, Chief Executive Officer of the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

 When Banksy donated the painting, he included a heartening note that thanked nurses and medical professionals for the work. It read: “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its only black and white.” In a tweet after the donating, Paula described the painting as “an inspirational backdrop to pause and reflect in these unprecedented times.”

Missing Aura

A reproduction has now replaced the original at the hospital.     

Since the pandemic began, medical professionals, especially nurses, have become heroes for their work in helping patients get better. Across the globe, nurses have been celebrated with air displays and music. Christie’s put succinctly when it described the painting as capturing “the simple, universal values that have come to the fore during the pandemic – family, home and time spent with loved ones.”

The donation of the painting deviates from Bansky’s clandestine approach to art. The street artist is also notorious for his antics and sensationalism.  In 2018, Banksy dominated the headlines when his iconic work. Girl With Balloon, self-destruct soon after selling for $1.4 million at Sotheby’s.  The spray- paint-on-canvas painting was shredded by some invisible shredder and was soon labeled “Love is in the Bin”

 Game Changer was just one of   Banksy’s works addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon after making the donation, the street artist went around town stenciling rats with facemasks around the London grounds. The works were promptly removed by the authority that saw them because they violated London’s strict anti-graffiti policy.  Unperturbed, he continued his exploit of using his work to remind people to wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19.

In December, Banksy left a mural of a woman violently sneezing on the wall in Totterdown. The woman’s denture flies out of her mouth with spit and mucus in tow in a humorous presentation. The power sneeze seems to be blowing the building in front of her down. The humor and seriousness of Aachoo!!  was not lost on those who saw it.

Elusive Banksy

The identity of Banksy is still as elusive as ever. As the search for Banksy true identity continues, the focus, for now, is how proceeds from the sale of Game Changer help people. There are indications it will benefit staff, patients, and the community.