World famous street artist Banksy must be pretty disgusted with himself.
The elusive street artist who goes around creating art on walls without permission, wasn’t happy when an unsanctioned exhibit of his work was set up in a London hotel this week.
“This show has got nothing to do with me and I think it’s disgusting people are allowed to go around displaying art on walls without getting permission,” he posted to his website.
The seven unauthenticated Banksy artworks – worth as much as $1.68 million – go up for auction on Sunday.
The graffiti artist, whose actual identity is unknown, says the Stealing Banksy exhibit was done without his “involvement or consent.”
Banksy spokeswoman Jo Brooks confirmed that the message is genuine and was posted by the artist.
The auction features graffiti art attributed to Banksy that was removed by The Sincura Group on behalf of building owners who wanted the “illegally painted” art taken down.
In a statement on the company’s website, Sincura Group Director Tony Baxter claims that they have never made money off of the auctioned Banksy works and encouraged “the owners to make charitable donations to the community from where the artwork originated.”
Banksy spent last October in NYC working on his “Better Out Than In” residency where he created a new piece every day for a month.