Banksy hits out at clothing brand Guess, accusing them of stealing his work
Notorious graffiti artist Banksy has lashed out at American clothing retailer Guess, accusing the brand of helping themselves to his artwork without permission.
Posting a picture of Guess’s Regent Street shopfront on his Instagram, Banksy encouraged fans to shoplift the store in payback for the retailer’s use of his famous Flower Thrower piece. “They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to them?” the anonymous artist wrote.
As of yet, Guess hasn’t responded to the allegations, though the Regent Street store has since closed its doors to the public, obscured the window display and increased security to nip any retributive action in the bud. Banksy has 11.6 million followers on Instagram alone.
It seems Banksy had no idea Brandalised had licensed his artwork with Guess. However, according to the comments made to the BBC by copyright lawyer Liz Ward, Brandalised seems to have “legitimately sourced the Banksy artwork via a third party”.
Just a few days before making his Instagram post, Banksy won a long-running European Union trademark dispute, allowing the artist to maintain the trademark of his Sandwich Board Money piece and to keep his identity a secret.
