In May this year, a Millennial identifying himself as the You Tuber Reckless Ben Schneider entered a Los Angeles gallery and told the art dealer there that he had a Banksy painting with him. The LA Art Dealer said he’d like to check it out, so Schneider pulled a painting of a banana from his backpack. He told the LA Art Dealer that in December 2018, Banksy had recruited an artist named Frizk to hang the banana painting in the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center on one of the Mamma Andersson: Memory Banks exhibition walls. After agreeing to the scheme, Frizk had his posse distract the guards at the CAC and the Banksy was quickly hung between two Andersson paintings. But the museum staff was on it, and the painting was removed after only a few minutes.

Photo courtesy Hyperallergic.com

On January 1, 2019, Hyperallergic.com published the story, claiming that “the curious stunt in Ohio suggests that the international art prankster Banksy collaborated with a local artist.” In the same article, the CAC’s communication director, Joshua Mattie, is quoted as saying that the painting was “placed… in the lost and found area where it can be claimed by its owner.” Schneider told The LA Art Dealer that after he read the painting was essentially up for grabs, he decided to go to the CAC and identify himself as the owner of the Banksy. After presenting a counterfeit eBay auction receipt for five dollars, Schneider left with the painting.

http://picdeer.com/banksysbanana

The LA Art Dealer eagerly agreed to help assess the authenticity of the painting; and at the current prices, who wouldn’t be interested in a loose Banksy? Fortunately, the painting’s originality could easily be confirmed by a department of Banksy’s Studio called Pest Control; unfortunately, Pest Control declared the painting and its story completely bogus. It is possible that Banksy would disavow his own pieces if there were too many for sale concurrently; but covering bullshit with more bullshit has a way of making the whole pile topple, and The LA Art Dealer wisely chose not to get involved further.

Photo courtesy Nathan Cartwright

Counterfeit art is hardly specific to contemporary times. After the Greeks of the Hellenistic Age (4^th-1^st centuries BC) began collecting the art of previous stylistic periods, inauthentic work was soon being produced to keep up with demand. But what’s intriguing about Schneider is how he took advantage of the 21^st century concept of “fake news” and utilized its associate confusion to his benefit. By publishing the article, Hyperallegic provided a base of believability that helped the story go viral, appearing on a slew of other news outlets and websites. Bingo, instant credibility! But even so, there’s a few questionable details. For example: it’s odd that Frizk never laid claim to the painting or tried to benefit from the association with Banksy. And, if you can trust a person as far as you can throw them, how far can you throw Schneider who admits that his part in the clusterfuck began with stealing the painting? Add the shadowy figure of Banksy to the mix and there’s more than enough cloudy confusion to make things seem perfectly clear to the right sucker. But what’s most 21^st century is that when confronted with the denial from Pest Control, Schneider continued to identify the piece as a Banksy painting and began hauling it around like an errant lawn gnome. Now its been photographed in abandoned amusement parks, desert canyons, and even the American Ninja Warrior set; everywhere apparently, but an art gallery.      #banksysbanana