Image via BanksyNY.
For Banksy’s third to last day of his residency, he’s taken a painting from Housing Works, added a Nazi officer who’s gazing at an idealized landscape in the Hudson River School style, and re-donated it back to the thrift store with his signature. He’s calling it “The banality of the banality of evil.” This itself is comes from the subtitle of the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt. Here’s a New York Observer piece from 1999 about the staying power of the phrase.
Within 30 minutes, Housing Works had taken it down from the window to ready it for auction. If you know Banksy’s book Wall and Piece you’ll know that he likes to play this line between fine art and street art, with an entire series dedicated to putting up fake works in museums (and seeing how long before the museum notices). One “cave painting” sample showing a man with a shopping cart in the “Post Catatonic era” got added to the permanent collection of the British Museum after museum officials found it.
Previous Banksy pieces in “Better Out Than In”:
Banksy in NYC Day 28: Tagging Robot on Coney Island
Banksy in NYC Day 27: “This Site Contains Blocked Messages” in Greenpoint
Banksy in NYC Day 26: “The Grumpier You Are The More Assholes You Meet.”
Banksy in NYC Day 25: Grim Reaper on Bumper Sticker
Banksy in NYC Day 24: Waiting in vain…at the door of the Hustler Club
Banksy in NYC Day 23: “Today’s art has been cancelled due to police activity”
Banksy in NYC Day 22: Urban Sphinx in “Everything Except the Kitchen Sphinx”
Banksy in NYC Day 21: Ghetto 4 Life in the South Bronx
Banksy in NYC Day 20: “Hammer Boy” on the Upper West Side
Banksy in NYC Day 18: Banksy x Os Gemeos Open Air Gallery Under the High Line in Chelsea
Banksy in NYC Day 17: Japanese Footbridge Scene in Bed Stuy
Banksy in NYC Day 16: Shoe Shine, Ronald McDonald’s with Enormous Shoes in the Bronx
Banksy in NYC Day 15: Twin Towers Tribute in Tribeca
Banksy in NYC Day 14: What We Do in Life Echoes for Eternity
Banksy in NYC Day 13: Spray Art for Sale Ignored in a Stall at Central Park
Banksy in NYC Day 12: Concrete Confessional at Cooper Union
Banksy in NYC Day 11: Silence of the Lambs Slaughterhouse Truck
Banksy in NYC Day 10: Beaver with Downed No Parking Sign in East New York
Bansky in NYC Day 9: Night Vision Horses on Truck and Car in the Lower East Side
Banksy in NYC Day 8: Fake Plato Quote in Greenpoint
Banksy in NYC Day 7: Battle to Survive a Broken Heart in Brooklyn
Banksy in NYC Day 5: 3-D Mobile Waterfall on Inside of Truck Touring Daily
Banksy in NYC Day 4: OCCUPY! The Musical in Bushwick is Already Gone But Two Still Remain
Banksy in NYC Day 3: Dog Peeing on Fire Hydrant in “You Complete Me”
Yes, Banksy is in NYC for the Month: Live Feed
Banksy in NY: Graffiti is a Crime Poster