As the eyes of the art world have turned towards London where the annual Frieze week has just started, a new work/installation/intervention/stunt by the UK's (or the world's) favorite art misfit has been revealed. Earlier today, locals in the Croydon neighborhood of South London began discovering and sharing the window shop display of Gross Domestic Product, which has turned out to be Banksy's latest project.
Taking up large windows facing the street, the shop, "where art irritates life," is a classic display of the artist's ingenuity and razor-sharp sense of reason and humor. As a whole, the project introduces a new concept for Street Art by taking over an entire window display of a derelict store. But it's the individual display items and their accompanying description, arrangement and the entire concept are what puts the Banksy stamp on it all.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, Banksy says he has been forced to open his own homeware store following a legal dispute involving a greeting card company. “A greetings cards company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art, and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally," the elusive artist stated, adding that this is “possibly the least poetic reason to ever make some art”.
The items "on offer" include baby crib surveillance mobile toy, along with "early learning counting set" consisting of wooden figures of refugees, welcome mats made from life vests salvaged from the shores of the Mediterranean, disco ball made from old police helmets, plates/clocks with running rats, works on canvas, cushions, and even badly done "Banksky" T-shirts, mugs and plates. The window installation also includes some of Banksy's absolute classics and new versions of more recent street works, as well as Croydon-local Stormzy's vest from Glastonbury.
The store windows will stay on view for a couple of weeks but the items will be available for purchase only via grossdomesticproduct.com, ranging in price from a £10 signed spray paint can to a handbag made from a house brick. “The proceeds from these products will go towards buying a new migrant rescue boat to replace the one confiscated by Italian authorities," Banksy stated, “So you may well be committing a criminal offense by purchasing them." —Sasha Bogojev