Two suspects face court date following theft of Banksy’s ‘Girl With Balloon’ art
Two men have become suspects in the robbery of the famous Banksy piece, Girl With Balloon, after it went missing at Grove Gallery on New Cavendish Street in central London on September 8th.
The suspects are set to appear in court next month for non-residential burglary after police recovered the painting and brought the two men into custody on September 12th. They were charged on the day but will also appear at Kingston Crown Court on October 9th.
The men reportedly entered Grove Gallery as trespassers and stole “Girl With Balloon print to the value of £270,000”, following which all the artwork was taken into storage for safekeeping.
Following the theft, the gallery’s manager, Lindor Mehmetaj, recalled being “petrified and horrified” before alerting the police. When asked if he had been in contact with Banksy in light of the theft, he responded: “My lips are sealed.”
Grove Gallery had been hosting an exhibition of various works by the coveted artist titled ‘Banksy’s London Rebellion’, from August 21st through September 7th. During this time, there were more than $2million worth of art in the gallery, per BBC.
Girl With Balloon has become one of Banksy’s most recognisable pieces. Featuring a small girl in black and white reaching up for a red heart-shaped balloon, the art has been used by Banksy numerous times to reflect various causes, including the West Bank barrier, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the 2017 election.
In 2017, a poll ranked Girl With Balloon as the UK’s favourite piece of artwork. According to Professor Paugh Gough, an arts expert at the University of Bournemouth, the piece is one of “most iconic images” and was voted by the public as “the most popular painting of that year, beating Turner and Constable,” according to the BBC.
The following year, Banksy made history with the piece by creating the first-ever art in a live auction. During an auction at Sotheby’s, a copy of the piece was shredded after being sold for $1.4million. However, it was destroyed by a mechanical device Banksy had hidden inside the frame, giving it an alternative name, Love is in the bin.
The latest robbery follows a series of pieces Banksy has placed around London, all seemingly animal-themed. However, it didn’t run completely smoothly, and thieves again saw the exhibition as an easy way to make money.
The fourth artwork included in this series was revealed on August 8th, with Bansky painting a howling wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham in his usual stencil style, but the piece lasted mere hours before being torn down by thieves.
