Banksy’s San Francisco Rat Mural Moves to Los Angeles

Banksy's "Haight Street Rat" being removed

Banksy’s Haight Street Rat packed up its beret and ink marker on Wednesday and moved from the San Francisco bed and breakfast where it appeared back in 2010 to the US Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles. The restored artwork will be on view in the bank building lobby for the next two months, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The rat’s move is funded by San Francisco’s Brian Greif, who this year founded the organization Save the Banksy. The organization’s first Kickstarter campaign failed to reach its $15,000 fundraising goal, amassing just $7,105 in pledges, and Geif’s second Banksy-related Kickstarter campaign fared a bit better, but still only raised $10,706 in pledges toward its $15,000 goal. Though several museums—including SFMOMA—turned down his request to host Haight Street Rat and the Kickstarter campaigns did not achieve their goals, the rat’s move at least temporarily fulfills Greif’s aim of saving the mural for public display. Greif agreed to have the rat displayed in the lobby of the US Bank Tower as long as it is free to the public.

The Haight Street Rat saga will be featured in Geif’s forthcoming independent documentary Saving Banksy, which chronicles the sale and theft of street art, and is set to premier in March. Geif’s co-director, Eva Boros, explained to the Los Angeles Times the logic behind their choice of a bank to display the Banksy: “We chose this location because street art is becoming profitable—it’s being stolen off the street—so it’s a little satirical.”

The Haight Street Rat will be on view in the lobby of the US Bank Tower through November 28.


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