The Ethics of owning Replicas, Prints and Banksy’s from West Country Prince

Today I want to touch upon a topic that's close to my heart and has been doing the rounds lately in the press. Is it ok to buy unsolicited prints? Is it ok to imitate famous paintings, if not legally then how about morally?

I've just got off the phone with a friend who told me had just purchased two Banksy prints for £300. I said, how is this possible. A) Banksy is extremely protective over his IP, and as soon any printing company crops up, they are quickly smothered and taken down. B) Even the legitimate prints now sell well into the thousands. And my friend has two for £300?

He told me of this company called West Country Prince who has been knocking out Banksy Prints, seemingly without any remonstration from the Banksy estate. In fact, I pulled this clip from the website Eye Like Art

With Banksy's Pest Control organisation clamping down quickly on any copyright abuse of Banksy imagery, the fact that WCP has been allowed to sell these pieces over many years has prompted speculation that he or she is an old friend of the street artist, or even the artist himself. Or maybe Banksy just doesn't give a toss, who knows!

And other sites that sell the prints such as We Have Your Prints echo this,

These limited edition screen prints are not endorsed by Banksy or Pest Control. The fact that the West Country Prince has been producing these limited edition screen prints for some time has left many to speculate on any connection to the true Banksy.

I'm afraid I'm not going to blow the lid off who is Banksy, or his arrangement with West Country Prince, but I wanted to touch upon the moral aspect.

When talking to my friend, he made it very clear that he was not looking to fool his house guests into believing these prints are original Banksy's. Nor are they official Banksy prints. So why have them? Well Banksy Prints go for a king’s ransom, and for many this is the only accessible price point that people will get that will them the opportunity to own a Banksy Print in their home.

But the main pull of focus for me, is that it creates a conversation around art. I was on the phone to my friend talking for about 20 minutes purely about this subject. Maybe that's the point. When I bring anybody into my home I like to show them around, and any art on the wall (most of it Tuula's original paintings) I like tell the story behind it. My friend says he revels in showing the art to his friends, but again not giving the illusion that the provenance was through any kind of official channels. But that's the story itself. And I don't believe the artist is being hit financially as result. If I know about West Country Prince, I'm fairly sure the Pest Control and Banksy know about it too.

Then there is the other matter, of having imitation artists paint classic originals. This is called 'after' XXX. For example I have another friend who has someone who paints imitations of famous works. Such as the Lady with Fan by Modigliani, or one of the famous Venetian paintings by Canaletto.

When I ask him, is this stuff legal? What about the artist himself? Is he/she or the estate going to be happy about what you are commissioning?

He replied,

[...] well it depends exactly what you are commissioning. The Lady With Fan is a stolen piece of art, so you cannot even pay a Museum to see it if you wanted. The Canaletto painting is also in the archives, not accessible to the public. 

Again what I found out was that my friend was creating stories. Introducing people to his art collection, although some are greatly populist and well known, for the laymen it can be an interesting introduction to the world of classical painting and stolen art. 

On a legal note

Copying pre-existing works is legal, so long as the original work is in the public domain (meaning that the copyright on that work has expired). According to Artists Network

Summary 

• Ensure your reasoning for buying prints comes from an honest place. 

• Do not try and convince your house guests they are originals if they are not. 

• Enjoy your prints and art for your own sake. Everyone has different taste. 

• Try and have a story to tell your house guests why you chose the print or the artwork. Try and tell them something that isn't just regurgitated from Wikipedia. 

Photo by Niv Singer on Unsplash