Banksy s mural in Nottingham. Courtesy of Banksy.
An art dealer has purchased a recent Banksy mural of a girl playing hula hoop with a bicycle tire from property owners in Lenton, Nottingham, as the market for the anonymous street artist’s work continues to climb.
Banksy painted the mural on October 13 of last year, chaining a bent bike with a missing back wheel next to it in an apparent reference the Raleigh Bicycle Company, which has called Nottingham home since it was founded in 1887. The artist claimed the work as his own several days later in an Instagram post.
Dealer John Brandler, of Brandler Galleries in Essex, paid six figures for the piece, which had been placed under a protective plastic cover, which the gallerist feared might damage it.