Man speaks out after hiring Banksy for £50 – then painting over his mural: “I have no regrets at all”

nme.com:

Banksy to conduct an art workshop for £50 that included a mural, which was then painted over.Peter de Boer, a senior practitioner on the Bristol City Council, was interviewed by BBC yesterday (January 15) about engaging Banksy – whose identity remains anonymous – for art classes at a local youth club in the 1990s.In these classes, Banksy taught graffiti to groups of Bristol teens, whom de Boer said was a “true collaboration” where they “were engaged, having fun and sharing ideas”.“If you look at the photos, you can see the way he was working with the young people,” de Boer told BBC, which published pictures of the classes on the condition of retaining Banksy’s anonymity.Banksy was hired for £50 to run a workshop with the kids, who were excited to work with the artist even as “nobody thought twice about who he was”.“The thing that struck me back then was he didn’t really have an ego.

He was doing art with them, rather than doing art for them,” de Boer revealed. “In the morning, he sat around a table with the children, talking about their ideas.

Then they would all just muck in and spray these things that were invented.”A post shared by BBC Bristol (@bbcwest)“It wasn’t more Banksy than the young people, it was definitely a kind of 50/50 thing,” he added.However, over time, the murals that came out of these classes did not last. “I personally painted over a Banksy.

I threw a Banksy stencil away when I was clearing up,” de Boer said, adding that he has “no regrets at all” about doing it.“Back then, it was much more about working with and engaging young people.