157 East 23rd Street, inside a Housing Works Thrift Shop
In ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’, Hanna Arendt explored the political and philosophical consequences of the so-called ‘Banality of Evil’, a theory on the fact that the great evils in History, and the Holocaust in particular, have been executed by ordinary people who were just following orders. ‘The banality of the banality of evil’ is a new twist on that concept by Banksy himself. The elusive artist picked up a canvas depicting a landscape from the Housing Works thrift shop on East 23rd street. He then vandalized the canvas painting a Nazi official on it (what links the piece to the ‘Banality of Evil’) and re-donated it to the thrift store. You can see his signature on the bottom left corner, under the original signature. By the way, that’s certainly not a low brow reference. According to Gothamist, the painting was sold two months ago for just $50 and it’s going up for auction to benefit Housing Works at Bidding for Good. The auction started at $74,000, but it quickly surpassed the amount. Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and their mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses. So, this was a nice one, Banksy.
Stenciled in New York 