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For Sale: Banksy's "Grumpy" Truck
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 27, 2013
Modified Oct 28, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 27, 2013
Modified Oct 28, 2013
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Yesterday, Banksy unveiled the newest piece of his Better Out Than In month-long NYC residency: an "alternative New York bumper slogan" on a truck in Sunset Park that read, "The grumpier you are the more assholes you meet." And if you missed out on the Central Park stand and have been wanting to own a piece of Banksy, here's your chance: the owner of the truck wants to sell it to the highest bidder. "I can replace the truck, so it doesn't have value to me—but it has value to someone else," owner Israel told us.
Israel, who runs I & A Merchandise Inc., said Banksy didn't get his permission to mark the truck, and he only found out about it on Saturday evening. "We don't answer the phones on Saturday, because we're Jewish," he told us. "We found out last night when we got a lot of messages." He has since moved the truck from 131 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues to "an unknowable location" so that it "doesn't get vandalized anymore."
Israel says he's very serious about selling the truck to the highest bidder, and claims he's already received an offer of $100K (although he sounded slightly skeptical about that number). He added that he had never heard of Banksy before last night: "For me, it's worth nothing more than art on the other sides of the truck. I don't know art. To me it has no value. I cant appreciate it."
If you are interested in purchasing this original Banksy piece, you can call Israel with your offer at 718-832-4927.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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