$120,000 for Banksy’s Jungle Book “Execution” Print

A poster version of the print, which was never distributed. From the Telegraph UK.

CNN International reports that a Banksy print recently sold for $120,000 on auction in London Tuesday. Some details:

The work, “Save or Delete Jungle Book,” went under the hammer alongside works by other urban artists as part of an Urban Art sale at Bonhams auction house in London.

The image was originally commissioned by Greenpeace for a poster campaign highlighting the problem of deforestation, with the characters transposed onto an image of a devastated forest. But the posters were never circulated due to copyright issues with Disney.

Seems to me that this work is a beautiful piece of political commentary. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it would qualify for the first-amendment satirical protection under which the Paul Krassner Disneyland Memorial Orgy is distributed.

Banksy’s work is always controversial, and has touched on Disney more than once. Perhaps most famously, his 2006 guerrilla installation at Disneyland commented on Guantanamo Bay. His documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, includes video footage of setting up the costumed dummy in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as well as commentary from a cameraman who was detained by Disneyland police after the installation was discovered. It left me unsure of how comfortable I am with the private security forces at Disneyland, and their powers to detain persons of interest.

Disneyland Unwitting Host for Public, Political Art

The Wooster Collective, “a celebration of street art,” reports The Story Disneyland Doesn’t Want You to Know. A life-size sculpture of a Guantanamo Bay inmate was posed for 90 minutes this week alongside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The ride was shut down to remove the sculpture, for reasons of “public safety.”

Addendum: The UK Daily Mall has picked up the story too.