Today’s Banksy piece is nothing less than a repainted painting entitled ‘The banality of the banality of evil’ (Oil on oil on canvas) showing the image of a German officer sitting and contemplating an idyllic landscape. According to the artist “a thrift store painting vandalised then re-donated to the thrift store.” That thrift store is Housing Works on East 23rd Street.
The title probably refers to “banality of evil”, political theorist Hannah Arendt’s 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which documented the trial of a Nazi officer post-WWII.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
