Banksy Art Worth Six Figures Ripped Down From Sunset Boulevard Billboard, Crumpled Up in a Ball

Update: A Facebook page has formed to try to prevent his Westwood piece (right) from being taken down. See that story and awesome new photos of Banksy artwork around town here.

British guerrilla artist Banksy has quietly been ninja-footing through town, putting up his signature images in the days before the Academy Awards, where his Exit Through the Gift Shop is up for an Oscar.

The blog MELROSEandFAIRFAX first noticed a Banksy piece — a boy soldier shooting crayons out of a rifle painted on the side of a Westwood Village Melose Avenue business — and the hunt was on for more artwork.

Problem is, the hunters shot down a work on a CBS Outdoor billboard, and six-figures worth of art apparently ended up in a crumpled up ball in the back of a truck.

[Video spotted at LAist].

That, at least, was according to Fox 11 News Wednesday night, which had footage of what was left of the Mickey Mouse-inspired Banksy work titled “Livin' the Dream” crumpled up in the back of the truck.

This dream died Wednesday.; Credit: MELROSEandFAIRFAX

It appears to us that CBS Outdoor had a crew to take down the work, which was painted over a Las Vegas-themed billboard it owns.

TMZ reported that employees at a gas station below, recognizing the value of such a piece, offered the workers who took it down $10,000 for it but were turned down.

Fox 11 reported that an altercation over the take-down erupted between the workers and a car-wash operator.

Weho Daily stated that a crowd gathered and police were called to the scene.

Banksy goes down over Sunset.; Credit: ThatBalli

The station says the crumpled up remains of “Livin' the Dream” ended up on the CBS lot — presumably nearby “Television City” on Beverly Boulevard.

You would think that if the geniuses at CBS Outdoor have any claim that Banksy damaged their property and cost them some ad money they would have at least preserved the artwork.

Oops.

A crowd gathered as Banksy's work was removed.; Credit: ThatBalli

First posted at 6:08 a.m.

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