This is what happened to me 10 minutes ago….
I glanced over to the building across from S&N (formally Dangerfield) to see that Banksy’s parachuting rat had (the very moment before) been drilled through and replaced with a drain pipe!!! I rushed across to talk to the construction worker who had no clue of its importance or even what a Banksy is. Isn’t there some street art register to prevent things like this happening? He’s agreed to try to get what’s left of a Space Invader off in one piece (it is a Space Invader right?) and brought over the fella pictured below for safe keeping (anyone know who this is?). I guess I’ll pop him on the wall inside the new S&N space for everyone to appreciate (a construction worker free zone).
This whole wall will sadly be chipped away to make room for a new cafe front. As sad as this makes me this is the nature of street art.
I love that you are saving the world for us all one Banksy at a time! Thank you
Oh – i didn’t make it there in time – if only!
There is no register in Stonnington, in fact, there is no consideration of this kind of thing in any of the planning processes.
There should be! Let’s ask Greville Street Precinct to initiate one with Council!
Is the bottom image with the top hat created by Pumpkin Head ???
I just wanted to add to the post above. The construction worker was not at fault. He was simply doing his job. He didn’t know it was a Banksy. When the planning permit was granted for this site there should have been some steps taken to make sure the Banksy was noted and preserved. The construction worker was actually a really nice guy and very helpful once I pointed out the situation.
Nice to see something saved and not in a skip- in fact the little guy seems pretty happy about it too. Cheers
As far as I know that face is from a Melbourne local, not Space Invader…
Yes, this is the piece that was removed before further demo but the Space Invader I was questioning is still on the wall and can be seen in the pictures to the right of some pipes below where the Banksy was.
its street art, its made to be torn down. There be a register to protect it.
Street art is temporal in nature and I’m not saying that the Banksy should have been put behind Perspex or the bricks that it was on removed from the wall and saved somewhere. It’s just a pity that it had to go in the way it did rather than gradually fade. It could have been avoided – that’s all!
I agree – sad way to go for this little rat, but alas, the ephemeral nature of street art is what makes it cool! The fact that it could disappear any minute adds a new dimension of fun that gallery art will never have.
You know there’s still a Banksy around the corner? The smiley-face grim reaper…
And there’s a few more parachuting rats in the City and Fitzroy too!
Funny how Space Invader gets none of the attention that Banksy does. His little mosaics are just as fun to go spotting.. They are all over the city and inner ‘burbs!
Yep – it’s great there is still one left in Prahran and quite a few inside Revolver too! Apparently it is a Space Invader on the wall too – for how much longer who knows!
I’m knew to Melbourne and would love to go find some of Banksy’s work, do you guys know any exact street names or locations where it still resides?
You can try checking the following link:
http://banksysforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=allelse&action=display&thread=261&page=2
FYI – A lot of people/sites do not disclose the location of Banksy’s remaining stencils for fear of vandalism.
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