When the genie's out of the bottle, you can't put it back

It has emerged that a Banksy "artwork" has been torn away from a Tescos in London, only to find its way to an auction room in Miami. Cultural vandalism? Sure, but what are you going to do? Banksy is one of the most bankable (geddit?) artists in the world right now. I mean, if you found a Leonardo sitting on an unregarded wall somewhere, wouldn't you be tempted to remove it and sell it to the highest bidder?

I'm not saying it's right, just stating the harsh and unpleasant realities of today's world. Banksy has worked hard to avoid becoming a "celebrity" in the traditional sense of the word, but the phenomenon he created has now mushroomed into something that is just too big even for him to handle. He's a Damian Hurst whose face we don't (yet) recognise, and everything he's ever created is hot, so hot that Americans and others, say your Russian oligarchs or Chinese plutocrats, are going to pay millions, just so they can show them off to their equally rich and unscrupulous friends. Perhaps we'll see a new form of street art where the artists begin to destroy their own work just to frustrate this sort of "collector". But it will be a big job. Banksy, apart from being immensely talented, is also one of the most prolific of modern artists. There's a lot of work to do...