Banksy and Reading Prison hit the news earlier this year with a fantastic new work appearing on the side of the historic prison. Titled the “Create Escape”, the work, in his typical stencil style, shows a prison abseiling down the wall using a typewriter and bedsheets to descend. The black and white work is one of the artist’s more recent street pieces that has seen a string of new street works (confirmed by Banksy) to have been executed across the South Coast and (in his thought-to-be) native Bristol.
Promising to match the prison’s asking price of £10m GBP by selling the stencil he used to create the work, he said: "Converting the place that destroyed him [Wilde] into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it."
The street artist added: "I had very little interest in Reading until I was on a rail replacement bus service that went past the jail. It's rare to find an uninterrupted 500m-long paintable surface slap bang in the middle of a town; I literally clambered over the passenger next to me to get a closer look. I promised myself I'd paint the wall even before I knew what it was - I'm passionate about it now, though. Oscar Wilde is the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic.”
Recent auction results for works including “Love is in the Bin” and “Girl with Balloon (Double Canvas)” as well as certain auction houses that accept crypto currency have further cemented the artist’s robust performance commercially. With an almost insatiable demand for original Banksy paintings and Banksy signed prints, the artist’s meteoric rise seems to show no sign of abating.
Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading East, said the street artist's pledge was "an incredible boost to the campaign" to save the prison from developers. Banksy has been incredibly generous and this is the best Christmas present Reading could wish for.
Banksy confirmed earlier this year that he was behind the artwork which shows a prisoner - possibly resembling famous inmate Oscar Wilde - escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter.
The prison famously housed Wilde between 1895 and 1897 and was immortalised by his poem Ballad of Reading Gaol during his stay, which reflected on the brutality of the Victorian penal system. He was convicted after his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas was exposed.
The prison has been derelict since 2013 and was put up for sale by the government in 2019. A deal to sell the Grade II-listed site to developers fell through last year and Reading council renewed its bid to turn it into an arts complex.
An inspiring figure for present and future generations, the artist’s influence and desire to create real change are evident once more. The importance of helping to foster and nurture creativity, one that we applaud, shows how the artist is using his fame and influence in a positive manner. For more information on our collection of Banksy prints for sale or Banksy original artworks for sale, contact sales@andipa.com or call +44(0)20 7589 2371