Banksy’s art has always occupied a fascinating space between the ephemeral and the enduring. Created in public, often without permission and intended to provoke an immediate response, his works can nevertheless acquire extraordinary cultural and financial significance. Recent figures (reported in BBC News) reveal that almost £150,000 of public money has been spent on the upkeep, security and removal of three Banksy artworks in London have brought this tension into sharp focus.
Banksy and the London landscape
The latest figures relate to three works that appeared in prominent London locations. The largest cost concerns the mural that Banksy painted on the Royal Courts of Justice in September 2025. The image depicted a judge in a wig striking a protester with a gavel, an arresting intervention in a setting intrinsically associated with justice and the rule of law. Banksy subsequently confirmed the work as his through his website and Instagram. Because the Royal Courts of Justice is a Grade II-listed building, the authorities are required to preserve its historic character. More than £85,000 has so far been spent on the mural, including £50,000 on attempts to remove the paint and a further £35,000 on security and overtime. Initial efforts to remove the work were unsuccessful, with laser technology subsequently being used. Further measures may still be required.
A second recent intervention appeared in Waterloo Place in April 2026: a sculpture depicting a suited man carrying a flag. Banksy confirmed the work through a video posted on Instagram, and Westminster City Council has since spent almost £60,000 on safety barriers, administration and security. The council, as landowner, now holds ownership of the sculpture and is considering options for its short-, medium- and long-term future. The third work is the striking installation of piranhas painted across a City of London police sentry box in August 2024. The box was subsequently removed at a cost of £2,200 and is due to be displayed at the London Museum when it reopens in November.
From street intervention to cultural asset
These cases highlight a particularly compelling paradox at the heart of Banksy’s practice. Street art is, by definition, closely connected to place: its meaning derives not only from the image itself but from where, when and how it appears. Yet once a work becomes recognised as an important example of contemporary art, questions of preservation inevitably follow.
Banksy’s works are frequently removed, painted over, protected behind barriers or, in some cases, carefully conserved. The fate of his London works demonstrates how quickly an apparently temporary intervention can become something that authorities, collectors, museums and the public feel compelled to preserve.
This is also central to the continuing fascination with Banksy as an artist. His works can be encountered freely in the public realm, without the conventional boundaries of a gallery or museum. They can generate crowds, tourism and intense public debate, while simultaneously entering the international art market, where original Banksy works have achieved substantial prices.
The debate surrounding the £150,000 cost therefore extends beyond a simple question of whether public money should be spent removing or protecting street art. It raises a more fundamental question: when does an ephemeral act of street art become part of a city’s cultural heritage?
The enduring significance of Banksy
For collectors, this distinction is particularly significant. An original Banksy artwork exists within a broader history of the artist’s practice, from his early interventions in Bristol and London to works that have entered major private and institutional collections around the world. His visual language — immediately recognisable yet often politically pointed — has allowed him to engage audiences far beyond the traditional art world.
At Andipa, we have specialised in original Banksy artworks for almost two decades, beginning in 2006. During that time, Banksy’s position within contemporary art has evolved considerably. What was once primarily understood as an underground and inherently transient form of street art has become an important and closely followed area of the international art market.
The latest developments in London offer a striking illustration of that transformation. A work can appear overnight, challenge its surroundings and generate immediate controversy, yet within days or months questions of ownership, conservation and cultural significance arise. Banksy’s ability to create this tension — between the temporary and the permanent, the public and the private, the accessible and the collectible — remains central to his extraordinary influence.
As London continues to negotiate the future of these works, Banksy’s interventions remind us that contemporary art does not always begin within the walls of a gallery. Sometimes, it begins on a city street - and becomes impossible to ignore.
