Art / banksy
The naked artist behind the recreation of Banksy artwork reveals how he did it
On a freezing cold day in the middle of lockdown in November, 2020, a Bristol artist stripped off to recreate a piece of Banksy artwork.
The artist behind the real life recreation has revealed how he used a piece of rope to hold onto while hanging naked from a wall on Park Street, all in the name of art.
The 23-year-old, who grew up in Israel, was doing parkour with his friends near College Green when he noticed Banksy’s ‘Well Hung Lover’ artwork in the background of a photo and experienced a lightbulb moment.
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The artist, who goes by his Instagram handle @_diebroke, got in touch with his friend, Tobias, who is a photographer, who together made the shoot possible. He said: “We thought, it’s now or never.
“There were lots of police cars patrolling the streets as it was in the middle of the second national lockdown, so we had to act fast.
“It was so so cold, the concrete was freezing underneath my feet.
“We tied a rope from the phone box across to a black box, so I had something to hold onto as the top of the wall is curved which would have made it difficult to hold onto with one hand.
“I came up with the idea a while before we did it but that photo was very spontaneous, which is the way I work. I saw an opportunity and we just went for it.”
The Stokes Croft resident, who alongside being an artist is a musician, works part time in a cafe and works in social media and content creation for businesses, was originally going to use the photo as an album cover – but realised that it did not work as a cropped square image.
The artist, who goes by his Instagram handle @_diebroke, got in touch with his friend, Tobias, who is a photographer, who together made the shoot possible – photo: @tobias_pistola
@_diebroke, who moved to Bristol in 2019, was saving the photo in his portfolio while building up other pieces of art, before he published it anywhere.
But, following a misunderstanding, on Monday the photo was leaked on social media by a company which did not credit him nor let him know it had been shared.
He had approached the company, which works with street art, for advice on how to showcase it.
The photo was shared far and wide online and the artist went to each page it was shared on and asked them to take it down.
The artist and the photographer then posted the photo on their own social media channels to claim their ownership for the idea and the image.
He added: “My dream would be to get it put in a gallery. Then in an ideal scenario, I’d like to do a collab with Banksy.
“Within my original idea, I’d sell the artwork and donate some of the money to a cause which helps to bridge the gap between Palestinians and Jews in Israel.”
Main photo: @tobias_pistola
Read next:
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- Banksy-style artwork appears – already covered in Perspex
- Banksy releases footage of artworks on Ukraine’s crumbling buildings
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