Street art icon Banksy’s flower girl auctioned for $209,000

PanARMENIAN.Net - A mural stencilled on the side of a Hollywood petrol station five years ago by British street artist Banksy has fetched 209,000 dollars at a Beverly Hills auction, the Associated Press reported.

The 9x8ft Flower Girl artwork was sold at an auction that featured nearly 100 works by more than 30 artists. The winning bid came from an anonymous Los Angeles buyer.

The mural shows a little girl holding a flower basket under the eye of a surveillance camera planted atop a tall stalk.

The seller of the mural was Eytan Rosenberg, a former petrol station owner who allowed a group of three street artists to paint something on the business's white brick wall.

Rosenberg sold the station last year and painstakingly removed the artwork and installed it in a sturdy aluminium frame. He and his sister want to use the money from the sale to build a car wash.

Banksy, who refuses to reveal his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol. He is known for his silhouetted figures and spray-painted messages.

The highest known price for a Banksy work is about £675,000 for a mural called Slave Labour that was auctioned in London in June.

Banksy's work has caught the eye of A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who recently bought a smaller piece for one million dollars.