In a quietly staged stall in Central Park, selling original signed canvases for $60 each, with a totally ordinary-looking vendor. Thousands of people walked past, assuming it was tourist junk.
Only a handful stopped, and yes — the total take was about $420 for the day.
Banksy’s stunt was meant to highlight how much the art world shapes what people see as “good” or valuable. Without the hype, the media attention, and wealthy buyers driving up prices, many people struggle to recognise or judge art on their own. The exhibit itself became part of the artwork, exposing how often value is based on external approval rather than personal interpretation.
A good example is the Mona Lisa, whose popularity is a relatively recent phenomenon. Leonardo da Vinci began the portrait in 1503, but it only gained its reputation as “the most famous painting in the world” in the past century. For more than 400 years, it wasn’t considered a must-see masterpiece. That changed in 1911, when it was stolen from the Louvre and the ensuing mystery propelled it into global prominence.
The punchline is brutal: once those same works were identified as genuine, they were suddenly worth tens of thousands (some far more). It’s a perfect little experiment in how much “value” comes from context, hype, and branding rather than what’s actually in front of you.
Kiwis purchase original Banksy art on the streets of New York for $60 each
The lucky New Zealande couple trusted their instincts and purchased two supposed Banksy canvases for $120 USD from a street art stall in New York.
The couple knew the art was the real deal, when a video of the purchase turned up on the official Banksy website. The artwork was then sold at auction in the UK fetching just shy of $200,000.
