There’s another Jewish spin on Banksy’s street art this week. A Jewish business owner was the lucky recipient of Banksy’s recent bumper art. In drippy red lettering, the back door of a delivery truck in Sunset Park, Brooklyn now reads, “The grumpier you are the more assholes you meet…,” the Orthodox Jewish news site Vos Iz Neias reports.
Israel Lippel, the owner of I&A Merchandise, was at first unaware of his good fortune:
“After Shabbos I got a lot of phone calls,” Israel told VIN News. “I googled Banksy and thought I would just leave the truck where it was until Monday, but a chassidishe guy called me and said ‘you better go move the truck before someone vandalizes it.’”
Lippel told the news site that he was offered $75,000 for the door, an offer he expects to accept, hoping to pay off some debts. But when we spoke, Lippel said he didn’t think that was a serious offer.
“We have other art from juvenile children that doesn’t matter, but if this is the way god wanted to send me some money that’s also good,” Israel told me. “We’re trying to see the best way to sell it. We never got any concrete offers, we are waiting for the right person to come.”
Many of Banksy’s crime scenes have been valued at well over $200,000, but the street artist doesn’t care for the money.
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