The Painter Painted: Melbourne Loses Its Treasured Banksy

The Sunday Age

Sunday December 14, 2008

JANAE HOUGHTON

HE IS a small, faceless man and was supposedly well protected with a piece of perspex plastic, but famous laneway graffiti artwork 'Banksy's little diver' has been destroyed by vandals.

It is believed the less-than-one-metre-tall grey figure, wearing a duffle coat and diving mask, was stencilled in 2003 when the famous British graffiti artist known just as Banksy visited Melbourne.

The little diver lives on a wall, surrounded by rats and rubbish, on the back of the Nicholas Building on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane.

A piece of screwed-in plastic, paid for by the building's owners, has protected him from the elements and damage since April this year.

But someone has ruined the iconic little diver, by tipping silver paint behind the plastic protector and tagging 'Banksy was ere' on the plastic, potentially ruining the artwork forever.

Earlier this year, the little diver's potential value went up when another Banksy artwork on a London wall was sold for #208,000 ($A472,528) on an eBay auction.

Banksy, the elusive street artist, keeps his identity secret and hardly ever gives media interviews.

Fans and buyers of his works include Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera.