Thieves stole print of Banksy’s famous Balloon Girl image from a London gallery over the weekend. Fortunately, the artwork has since been recovered, and police have charged two men with burglary for the Banksy theft.
The suspects, 47-year-old Larry Fraser of East London and 53-year-old James Love of Essex, were taken into police custody and made bail Thursday morning, reports the Guardian.
An investigation was launched after the burglary took place around 11 p.m. on Sunday at Grove Gallery on New Cavendish Street. The dealer’s “Breakout: Banky’s London Rebellion” show had ended the previous day. The Balloon Girl print was the only work stolen.
Gallery manager Lindor Mehmetaj told the BBC he was “petrified and horrified” to find the broken glass and missing artwork on Monday morning.
The Metropolitan police’s Flying Squad launched an investigation that was able to quickly track down the missing artwork. Authorities have already returned the piece, wrapped in a police evidence bag.
Though it is likely Banksy’s best-known piece, Balloon Girl is perhaps uncharacteristically sweet for the anonymous British street artist. Showing a young girl reaching out for a heart-shaped red balloon that is being carried away or blown toward her by a gust of wind, the stenciled image is lacking in the caustic humor and political edge that is common in Banky’s oeuvre.
Banksy began stenciling the image in sites across London in 2002 (and later created versions in Israel’s West Bank and to commemorate the Syrian Civil War). None of the original street art versions, which included one under Waterloo Bridge, are still extant. But the artist also released several limited-edition prints of the work, creating a market for lasting versions of the more ephemeral guerrilla works.
Banksy, Love Is In The Bin Image courtesy Sotheby’s
In 2018, Banksy pranked Sotheby’s London by rigging a Balloon Girl print to self-destruct by hiding a shredder in its ornate gold frame. The work sold for a then-record £1 million ($1.4 million), then dramatically began to shred itself. Fortuitously, the shredder stopped before it could finish the job. Banksy rechristened the resulting print Love Is in the Bin, and it set a new auction high for the artist with a £18.6 million ($25.4 million) sale in 2021.
Court documents related to the stolen version call it a “Girl With Balloon print to the value of £270,000 [$355,000].”