“What we are against is people … exhibiting their work without permission”

The Westminster City Council has ordered a Banksy mural, entitled One Nation Under CCTV (CCTV is short for closed circuit television), to be removed from a building on Newman Street as a message to graffiti artists that graffiti will not be tolerated. The mural has the words “One Nation Under CCTV” stencilled above two painted people.

The mural is painted on the wall of a building shared by Royal Mail and another business. Of course he is not going to fill in a form and apply for permission. Notoriety is what makes Banksy exist. The council said the artist did not gain the necessary permission and, once it has established who owns the painted wall, the artwork will be removed by the owner.

Mr Davis, who is also chairman of the council’s planning sub committee, said: “I take the view that this is graffiti and if you condone this then what is the difference between this and all the other graffiti you see scrawled across the city? “If you condone this then you condone graffiti all over London.”

Mr Davis said the building’s owner had “every right” to sell or exhibit the Banksy graffiti – as long as it was removed from the wall. “What we are against is people coming around without proper permission or consent and exhibiting their work without permission.”

Presumably the mural could be kept if the owner of the wall agrees to it. More from the BBC here.

Tags: banksy, criminal art, graffiti, public art