When graffiti becomes commercial, who should pay for it?

When the famous graffiti of Banks appeared on the wall of the garage in Port Talbot, the building owner, Ian Lewis, could not imagine how many people would like to take a picture, to be photographed against the background of this graffiti.
The drawing attracted thousands of visitors, which led to the fact that the owner of the garage had to hire guards to protect their property.
Everyone understands that graffiti is a work that has a certain lifespan, it is not eternal and can be blocked by a different pattern or even painted over or washed away.
Graffiti is one of the ways to publicly declare your views without official permission. This is a form of protest that visually occupies public space and does not require approval. The list of graffiti artists that won worldwide recognition and became famous for their work is Shepard Fairy, who created the poster of Obama's “Hope” and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In this case, Banksy argues that he never seeks to commercial success, considering it a ghost of the failure of the graffiti artist. But in fact, whether he wants it or not, the popularity of Banksy's work is phenomenal.
The easy-to-read stencil style, combined with the often insightful political commentary and visual games, allowed his works to become recognizable and masterpieces of modern street art. His work and design can satisfy even those for whom art must consist of "the right pictures of someone and something." Moreover, his work is easy to replicate and copy.
When does the work become an icon of the author? It all starts as a practice that deliberately undermines the concept of art as an exclusive, costly investment, has now become as commercialized as the last work of Damien Hirst.
Many people, both amateurs and ordinary viewers, agree with Banksy’s message, his political views and ideological feelings, but there is a degree in which he becomes a parody of himself. How can one evaluate the point of view of one of the last deeds of the artist, when at the auction his picture self-destructed. It is impossible to deny the obvious that Banksy knew that this act would affect the profitability of this work.
And here, in our story, we return to the beginning of our publication, where we touch on the face of someone’s property and graffiti, such a free and popular trend in art.
After all, Banksy could not understand what impact his work may have on the property of Lewis. It could be, as an act of excessive gratitude, giving Port Talbot to use it for the benefit of society, so imposed attention to the Lewis garage. Essentially bearing the imposed cultural responsibility.
Public art comes to life through a variety of forms, from monumental statues of historical figures to temporary and often illegal graffiti created by modern street artists.
The Government of Wales has confirmed that it will take over the protection of Port Talbot’s works of art and discuss the future of this work. And we are well aware that the drawing, no matter what masterpiece it was, used the wall of a foreign garage as a canvas, which was not the property of the artist himself. At the same time, Banksy himself could have allocated funds for the protection of his work and the inconvenience of the property owner associated with this fact.
In 2014, Denis Stinchcombe, on the threshold of a youth club in Bristol, painted graffiti called “Mobile Phone Fans”, the proceeds of which he used to benefit the organization.
Whatever it was, but Banksy knows how to get millions of views of his work and be the star of the first pages of news feeds.

The publication is based on the article of a teacher in the field of art and design of the University of Dundee-Jenis Aitken.