

Photo via PortSideNewYork

Almost immediately after Banksy's red balloon went up in Red Hook on October 7th, it was tagged by Omar, who likes to ruin a more famous artist's work by scribbling his name on top of or next to them. Soon after that, the words "is a jealous little girl" were sprayed under Omar's name (there are some loose theories that Banksy did this himself). LOL, etc. And soon after that, plexiglass was bolted over the whole thing in an effort to preserve it... but of course that plexiglass was soon shattered, exposing the piece to the cruel world once again. Nothing a little steel and human flesh won't fix! Part of the new protocol to protect what remains of the piece seems to be a night watchman.



The transformation of the Red Hook balloon

One tipster told us this week "there are people guarding the Banksy at King and Van Brunt in Red Hook. It's depressing to see some dude slumped over in a chair with a flashlight at 1 a.m. on the street corner." And someone else Tweeted a photo, explaining that not only is there a watchman, but a steel box has now been placed over the piece. One witness to the steel going up wrote, "The ongoing events around the Red Hook Banksy are insane. Local guy hired to guard it, guard falls asleep, someone takes hammer to plexi, whole thing gets covered by welded steel that night."

Yesterday Banksy's new piece in Queens was tagged up by some guy trying to promote his clothing company, and it was all caught on film.