''Art Buff'' is a graffiti artwork by

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigram ...

which was created in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

in 2014, Banksy announcing it as "part of the

Folkestone triennial The Creative Folkestone Triennial is an arts festival held every three years in Folkestone, Kent, England. Site-specific artworks are commissioned for what are often unusual locations around the town, a number of works remaining in place perman ...

. Kind of". The work depicts a woman wearing headphones and staring at a plinth, upon which rests a patch of painted-out graffiti. The name of the piece is a play on words, "buff" being a slang term for the painting over of graffiti. Reported on 13 October 2014, ''Art Buff'' was vandalized with the

spray painting Spray painting is a painting technique in which a device sprays coating material (paint, ink, varnish, etc.) through the air onto a surface. The most common types employ compressed gas—usually air—to atomize and direct the paint particles. ...

of a

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...

sitting on top of the plinth. During early November 2014

Robin Barton Robin Barton (born 5 November 1958) is a British art dealer dealing primarily with Banksy's. Barton studied photography and graphic design at the Exeter College of Art and Design and this was his first encounter with Russell Young. Moving to Lo ...

and

Bankrobber London Robin Barton (born 5 November 1958) is a British art dealer dealing primarily with Banksy's. Barton studied photography and graphic design at the Exeter College of Art and Design and this was his first encounter with Russell Young. Moving to Lo ...

organized the removal of ''Art Buff'' from its

location following requests from the owners of the wall, and announced plans to put it up for sale in aid of a cancer charity set up in memory of Jimmy Godden. On 27 November 2014, the work was flown to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Art Basel to be offered for sale. On 11 September 2015, a British judge ruled that the mural was public property, and had to be returned to Folkestone. Plans were announced to include the artwork as part of a new building in 2018. It finally returned to Folkestone in 2020 as part of the Creative Quarter's "The Plinth" event.

References

2014 in art English contemporary works of art Graffiti in England Vandalized works of art in the United Kingdom Works by Banksy Folkestone Culture in Kent 2014 in England Paintings of women {{public-art-stub