Banksy’s The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill , NYC
By Tim ConnorsWednesday, October 29th, 2008
On October 2nd guerrilla artist Banksy opened The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, his first official exhibition in New York City. My girlfriend and I made our way over to the Lower East Side storefront location of this installation, cameras in hand. The exhibition features chicken nuggets with legs, busily dipping themselves in sauce; a rabbit wearing a pearl necklace and filing its nails; a robot monkey wearing headphones and watching TV in a cage. There’s also the disturbing still figure of Tweety, a caged bird that has lost all of its feathers.
This is the first time that Banksy has used animatronics, and the effect is absolutely amazing. It’s admirable that it’s being held in a tiny storefront that’s less than 300 square feet and can’t hold more than 20 people at any one time. It will also catch you a bit off guard if you’re just wandering down 7th avenue and your eyes stray toward the exhibition. That’s how Banksy’s art works though – it’s simple and cerebral. This fake pet shop in the middle of New York City aims to question “our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.” Banksy also said: “New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead.”
I am really glad I was able to view this installation before it shuts down on Halloween. For the curious, I’ve linked the official video clips.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I wish I was on the east coast to get to see this first hand. He was in LA a year or 2 ago and he had an elephant in the room that he painted to match the wallpaper it was insane. A lot of the work that he does doesn’t take an crazy amount of skill but what amazes me is that he’s so creative and always thinks of these very effective and simple pieces that get the message across at first glace. I can’t wait to see him come back this way again.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Tomorrow is the last day it’s open here in NYC.
I have no idea if he’ll move this store concept someplace else, but I’d assume he would.
His stuff is always thought provoking and seriously amazing.