Banksy Painting in New Orleans Gone, But to Where?

Walk the streets of New Orleans or any major community in Louisiana and you will see it. It's graffiti or street art. Many look at that kind of expression as vandalism. Some, view the artwork differently. Some see graffiti as a form of silent protest. And others have turned the unique "urban canvas" of our city streets into priceless pieces of art.

Such is the lure of the world's most popular living artist, Banksy. No one knows that much about Banksy. His or her identity is a closely guarded secret but one thing is for sure, the artwork created by Banksy is among the most desired in the world.

You might recall this Banksy "stunt" for lack of a better word. His painting "Girl With Balloon" had just sold for $1.4 million. Just as the auctioneer gaveled the sale as final the painting began to self-destruct. Fortunately, for the investor, the destruction was halted and the painting became even more valuable.

How much more valuable you ask? The "damaged" version of the painting when auctioned again resold for $25.4 million. So, that was a nice $24 million in profit thanks to Banksy's "self-destruct" plan.

New Orleans, like many towns, has been tagged by Banksy. It's believed that in 2008 Banksy paid a visit to the Big Easy and left behind 14 pieces of his work on walls scattered about the city. Of those 14 Banksy paintings three are still visible.

Well, make that two paintings that are still visible because one of those Banksy paintings has just been reported missing. Not missing as in "we don't know where it went" but missing as in "it's not where it used to be".

The Banksy in question was a shadowy image of another anti-graffiti activist known as the Gray Ghost. Here's a picture of the image in question from a building located at the corner of Clio and Carondelet in New Orleans.

The side of the building where the painting was is now covered in a smooth pink paint job but don't fret, the Banksy is okay. The building's owner made arrangements to have the painting and the wall it was painted on removed and shipped up to New York.

There are currently two other Banksy paintings in New Orleans.  There is a very faint painting of The Gray Ghost on Jackson Avenue. That painting is reported to be in poor condition because of the effects of weathering. And "The Umbrella Girl" can be seen on Kerlerec Street at St. Claude Avenue.

As far as the Gray Ghost painting that was removed goes, the artwork will be brought back to its original location in New Orleans but it will be featured behind a large display window that can be swiveled to display the piece inside the building or on the outside.

The original Banksy artwork has drawn throngs of fans to the location since 2008 and the new owners of the property hope this notoriety will continue once the new display is created. The building itself is expected to become home to a bakery downstairs and there have been rumblings that the upstairs might be turned into a "speakeasy" style bar. We have to admit that "The Gray Ghost" would be a cool name for a bar like that.