Police Break Into Banksy’s Ex-Agent’s Gallery Mistaking Sculpture For Dead Woman
Fearing a medical emergency had taken place, police broke into an art gallery in London, only to find that the woman slumped over a table was a hyperrealistic sculpture.
The lifelike piece, Kristina (2022) by Mark Jenkins, portrays a lady in a mustard-colored hoodie and black pants, face down on a wooden table with her hands in her lap.
The London gallery, Laz Emporium, is owned by Banksy’s former agent, Steve Lazarides, who opened the space in October last year.
According to Artnet News, the London Metropolitan Police were called to the scene in the evening, with reports of a person who appeared to be unconscious inside the locked exhibition hall.
It appears a passerby had reported that the woman had not moved for at least two hours, and they were worried that she had had a heart attack or suffered from a fatal overdose.
After officers forced their way in, they discovered the “person” in question was, in fact, a mannequin. Nonetheless, law enforcers told the site they had “a duty of care to respond when there is a welfare concern,” even if it turns out to be a false alarm.
The story behind the sculpture is even more bizarre—Lazarides commissioned it as a portrayal of his sister, of the same name, who once passed out in a plate of soup.
Funnily enough, as per the site, the employee who was left at the scene was later lectured by officers “for having a sculpture of a human being that looked so real.”
Hypebeast notes this isn’t the first time the sculpture has caused a stir. Paramedics previously responded to an interior design event in October when another passerby had mistakenly reported the work.
While there is no lack of provocative art, police intervention is rarely in the mix.
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[via HYPEBEAST and Artnet News, cover image via John Gomez | Dreamstime.com]
