Vandal Hits 2 Banksy Pieces in Utah

Someone who is apparently not a fan of Banksy spray-painted over one of the artist's works in the Utah city that hosts the Sundance Film Festival, reports the Deseret News. Police in Park City suspect the same vandal tried to deface a second Banksy work but succeeded only in damaging its protective glass cover. The vandalism took place on New Year's Eve, and security footage shows a white male at one of the sites about 2am. Police have yet to make any arrests.

The Banksy piece that got spray-painted over was of a young angel with a pink halo. The other is of a cameraman shooting an image of a flower. Both showed up in 2010, when a documentary featuring Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was being screened at the festival. Because "they weren't sanctioned, it could come down to a judge to determine the value of each of these," a police sergeant tells AP. A local museum curator doesn't think Banksy will be too upset. "Anytime that he makes a work, he knows that it's open for any other graffiti artist" to enhance or even defile, she says. (More Banksy stories.)