Keszler & Banksy Pest Control Stymies Keszler Gallery Sales By Rachel Corbett

Stephan Keszler, the Southampton art dealer whose gallery salvaged a pair of three-ton concrete Banksy street works from the West

Bank city of Bethlehem, and took five other Street Art works from New Orleans.

Los Angeles and England on consignment, says that public disapproval from the anonymous artists authentication arm, Pest Control,

has sabotaged the works reputation and, so far, his ability to sell them. Artnet Magazine reported on the Keszler Gallery exhibition

and the surrounding controversy six weeks ago.

As a rule, Pest Control never authenticates Banksy street works, claiming that the artist wants these stencil paintings to remain in

their original context. Banksy has admitted, however, that this policy is also designed to avoid implicating him in criminal

activity. Authenticating his Street Art, Banksy said in an interview, would be like a signed confession on letterhead.

Pest Control previously told Artnet that it had warned Mr. Keszler about the serious implications of selling unauthenticated

works, a claim Keszler adamantly denies. While he and his collaborator, Robin Barton of LondonsBankrobber Gallery, knew the policy

on street certification before acquiring the works, he said he never received any direct warning. We do not know why Pest Control is

releasing self-penned admonishments about our exhibition and the artwork, Keszler said, unless it is designed to manipulate the

marketing of the street works or as an attempt to damage the gallerys reputation.

It also might be because the Keszler Gallery show is the first exhibition of Banksy street works on this scale. Bankrobber and

Keszler spent substantial sums transporting and restoring the Bethlehem works (the galleries declined to be more specific as to their

expenses), and also paid for the installation of plumbing and electricity at the Southampton Power Plant where the controversial

exhibition was held in August. Now, all seven works are still for sale, and Pest Controls criticism of the galleries has resulted in

the cancellation of an exhibition planned for Art Basel Miami Beach, Dec. 1-4, 2011, and at least one collector backing out of a deal

after the invoice had been sent, Keszler said. That collector, according to Keszler, admitted that he knew they were not fakes, but

said he couldnt go ahead with the purchase because its almost impossible to re-sell them with this stigma on them.

Indeed, after Pest Control formed in 2008, it became difficult for collectors to re-sell Banksy street works at all. Since then, the

major auction houses have declined to accept Banksy works for auction without Pest Control certification. We will not sell anything

removed from the street because its something the artist isnt happy with, so we try to abide by the wishes of the artist, said

Christies London postwar and contemporary art specialist Lock Kresler. Pest Control is the sole governing authority; its the

mouthpiece of the artist.

Today, Sothebys, Christies and Phillips de Purysell only signed prints, canvases and editions from the artists studio. Weve had

to turn away quite a number of works that were straight from the street, without the artist's authorization, the auction expert

said.

by: aarenbrowns

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