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Banksy in Venice, the shipwrecked / migrant child

The Banksy's work in Venice: the history, the location, how to arrive and see the graffiti by Banksy.

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Banksy in Venice - Campo San Pantalon - Venice

In the days of the vernissage of the Biennial of Art of Venice 2019, in the night between 8 and 9 May, if someone returning home late had thrown the eye on a building appearing on a channel near Campo San Pantalon, perhaps he would have seen and (re) known one of the most famous and enigmatic contemporary artists, known to all simply as Banksy.

The English artist is in fact known for being able to manage a total anonymity despite the fact that his works - made with the stencil technique - have caused a sensation for years, have been detached and auctioned for hundreds of thousands of euros.

The news, however, bounces, through local and national media, to every part of the world and the thought immediately goes to Banksy; but he does not confirm and a week later he appears in the city to sell in Saint Mark's Square a work entitled Oil in Venice, composed of several paintings depicting a huge cruise ship, which occupies an unlikely Venetian background, accompanied by gondolas and rowers that pay homage to 18th-century landscape painting; a modern capriccio, but with an intrinsic critical content that is not at all fantastic.

In the video posted by the artist on social media we see the scene of a peddler intent on mounting his banquet in the Riva degli Schiavoni area; here, in front of the Hotel Danieli and a few steps away from Palazzo Ducale, many street artists are set up every day. The seller is never clearly framed but there are other photos on the web where he's easily recognizable in the face. So far nothing strange but the subsequent sequences show the artist / actor talking to the traffic wardens inviting him to move out because he does not have a regular license, also because the director has opportunely moved the scene in front of the Basilica of Saint Mark's Square, where no activity can be carried out since years. So expelled from the brigade for not being in possession of the itinerant license, and without selling anything, the seller leaves leaving in the background a cruise ship that enters the Giudecca Canal.

Later it was said, post a video that portrays everything on his instagram account. He jokingly complains that he has not yet been invited to one of the major world contemporary art exhibitions, the Venice Art Biennale, which is now open to the public.

It seems doubtful that Banksy went so far as to interpret the street vendor and probably instead he may have hired an actor (on the web there are also photos with 2 people); in this way, however, the performance would be incomplete; so this can also be doubted.

However 3 days after, May 24, 2019, Banksy placed on Instagram 2 photos of the work of San Pantalon thus recognizing the paternity of the shipwrecked / migrant child.

That night, Banksy surely reached the wall on which he then made the graffiti by boat, perhaps by taxi. In the city it is difficult for anyone to know anything. But anyone who knows Bansky always helps him preserve anonymity; so that the fairy tale of the art world goes on.

In Venice, Banksy has decided to depict a child with a life jacket indicating his position, holding a warning light over his head with his right hand and a fuchsia-colored signal (looking at the graffiti, however, the signal does not seem to be emitted from an artificial candle but from a branch, we note the root system below, just torn from the ground).

As usual, Banksy's graffiti dialogues with the architectural elements and the context in which it is inserted: Banksy has in fact chosen a wall overlooking the canal and then built the work above the water line thus separating with a body of water the figure of the migrant child from the spectator.

In addition, the Rio Novo is one of the busiest by taxis that with their passage constantly cause waves that lap - if they do not flood - the feet of the child, thus giving "sudden urgencies to rescue" and a total magnetic realism at work.
To finish the house on which Banksy decided to create the stencil of the migrant child has been for sale for years and presents a degraded appearance that is perhaps chosen to remind everyone of the uneasy conditions that have always caused migratory waves.

The building on which Banksy has decided to carry out his work is for sale. Given the value of Banksy on the art market at present, it will now certainly have a greater value. The buyer may decide to detach and sell the stencil but even here Banksy has played in advance realizing a work that, extracted from its original context - would probably lose much of its value.

Now it will be enough to wait a few months to see if the migrant child, who is already a pilgrimage destination in Venice, will remain in San Pantalon or migrate to the world art market. Nor is it excluded that it runs the risk of being stolen as has already happened in many parts of the planet with the works of Banksy.

How to get to see the Banksy of Venice

The graffiti stays on a house appearing at Rio Novo that from Piazzale Roma goes to Grand Canal beside Ca' Foscari.

To reach the Banksy Graffiti in Venice you have to arrive in Campo San Pantalon which is located in the Dorsoduro district at number 3703 (the church). From Campo San Pantalon going up on the bridge and turning towards the Church of San Pantalon you will see the Venetian Banksy on the water's edge of the first building on the left.

From Piazzale Roma you can reach Ponte 3 Ponti on foot in 5 minutes, proceeding along the Fondamenta del Gaffaro. At the end of this pass on the left bank to walk the Salizada San Pantalon on the right for about 100 meters. Before the small bridge turn right passing through Campiello Mosca and making the bridge you enter Campo San Pantalon.

From Rialto you can take vaporetto 1 or 2 to the San Tom� stop. From here leave the calle of the vaporetto and go left into Calle del Campanile and right before the bridge into Fondamenta del Forner, taking the last bridge on the left that leads to Calle Crosera. Turning right, after 100 meters you will reach the intersection with Calle San Pantalon which leads directly to Campo San Pantalon.

From San Marco you can take vaporetto 1 or 2 to the San Tom� stop. From here leave the calle of the vaporetto and go left into Calle del Campanile and right before the bridge into Fondamenta del Forner, taking the last bridge on the left that leads to Calle Crosera. Turning right, after 100 meters you will reach the intersection with Calle San Pantalon which leads directly to Campo San Pantalon.

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PIAZZALE ROMA "C" - FERROVIA "E" - RIVA DE BIASIO - SAN MARCUOLA - SAN STAE - CA' D'ORO - RIALTO MERCATO - RIALTO "B" - SAN SILVESTRO - SANT'ANGELO - SAN TOMÀ - CA' REZZONICO - ACCADEMIA "A" - GIGLIO - SALUTE - S.MARCO VALLARESSO - SAN MARCO SAN ZACCARIA (Danieli) "F" - ARSENALE - GIARDINI - SANT'ELENA - LIDO SANTA MARIA ELISABETTA "D" and viceversa.

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