Guerrilla artist Banksy has opened a controversial art gallery on Oxford Street, featuring works that include a Santa Claus figure reimagined as Satan holding a placard reading 'It's cancelled', and a Michael Jackson lookalike in a twisted version of Hansel and Gretel.
The gallery, named Santa's Ghetto, showcases a range of provocative pieces. One notable work is a mocked-up photo of Tony Blair taking a picture on his mobile phone of an explosion in a Middle Eastern desert, by artist Peter Kennard. Downing Street is expected to request its removal due to its anti-war protest against the Iraq war.
Banksy himself is exhibiting four works, all sold within ten minutes of going on sale. One piece, featuring a man resembling Michael Jackson offering candy to children in a variation of the Brothers Grimm tale, sold for £100,000 to an unknown buyer. Ten artworks have already been sold at the gallery, which aims to sell affordable art to the public.
Other pieces include two portraits of the Mona Lisa by Nick Walker, depicting her as Marge Simpson and with her rear exposed, and Emma Heron's 'vendalimb' machine, which shows a black child with a leg blown off gazing into it. Also on sale are a Tube map with every station named 'Error', a teddy bear stabbed with a kitchen knife, and a picture of Saddam Hussein in an American military uniform.
Santa's Ghetto will remain open for 23 days, marking the fifth year of Banksy's concept store. Banksy said through a spokeswoman: 'I felt the spirit of Christmas was being lost - it was being increasingly uncommercialised and more and more to do with religion. So we decided to open our own shop and sell pointless stuff you didn't need.'
Gallery owner Steve Lazarides added: 'I think this is the best Santa's Ghetto so far. It's on Oxford Street, highly political, and there's loads of cheap art to buy. What more could you want?'
