Banksy donates migrant crisis paintings to charity

London, July 27 (IANS) Banksy, the acclaimed anonymous British street artist, has donated migrant crisis paintings showing life-jackets abandoned on a Mediterranean beach to charity.Titled Mediterranean Sea View 2017, the works are estimated to sell for between 800,000 pounds and 1.2 million pounds, the Metro newspaper reported on Sunday. The elusive artist took 19th century-style Romantic seascapes and added the abandoned life-jackets and buoys in reference to the deaths of migrants travelling to the European Union during the 2010s.The triptych of framed oil paintings were created for Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, where they have hung since its opening in 2017. The hotel, which overlooks the West Bank wall dividing Bethlehem, deems itself as having "the worst view of any hotel in the world" and is filled with original Banksy artwork.The piece will feature in Sotheby's Rembrandt to Richter cross-category evening sale on July 28. Proceeds will be used to help build a new acute stroke unit and purchase children's rehabilitation equipment for Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation.
--IANS ksk/