Graffiti is now a multibillion-rand market

Graffiti, for decades dismissed as vandalism, is now a multibillion-rand market. At high-end art fairs in London, New York and Miami, works by the likes of Ben Eine, D*Face, JR and Stik are restored, framed and traded.

It's no surprise that a piece by Bansky, the most famous graffiti artist, was recently declared to have toppled Constable's The Hay Wain as the UK's best-loved work of art. Girl with a Balloon is among many works that have been removed from the street and sold, in some cases for millions.

It follows that today, instead of painting over street art, urban planners and developers are saving it, copying it and commissioning it.

Just last month, a huge illustration of Nelson Mandela, spanning three floors of a former warehouse in Camden, London, was unveiled by five artists from Global Street Art.

Banksy is also being used to market a luxury development in Notting Hill, which claims to be "London's first new development designed around graffiti artwork".

The piece, which appeared overnight on the side of a Victorian house on Portobello Road, shows a traditional looking artist, palette in hand, painting the Bansky tag in bold red letters. - The Daily Telegraph