Banksy Inserted A Nazi Soldier Into An Oil Painting For Today's Artwork
Banksy departed from his standard stencil motif for today's work, the 29th in his ongoing series around New York City.
According to Gothamist, the artist picked up a canvas depicting a landscape from the Housing Works thrift shop on East 23rd Street. He then modified the painting by adding in a Nazi soldier and brought it back to the shop.
He writes of the work on his website: "A thrift store painting vandalised then re-donated to the thrift store."
Gothamist reports that the thrift shop plans to auction the painting.
The work is called "The banality of the banality of evil," a play on a phrase coined by author Hannah Arendt after reporting on the trial of Nazi colonel Adolf Eichmann, to refer to the idea that ordinary people can do evil simply because they are taking orders.
