Banksy Rat Mural: Let them Eat Crack on Broadway & Howard, SoHo, New York
This Banksy rat mural is possibly the best-documented one on flickr. But not to be outdone, I am uploading it to complete the set of four.
It shows a rat with a briefcase and an umbrella, and it reads "Let Them Eat Crack".
You can find this work of street art on Broadway and Howard St. It is to huge that it's practically impossible to miss.
Update 11/5/08: Looks like it's being painted over :(
Comments and faves
ptrce, tomlevi11, pseudoknot, pieNchubbs, and 44 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Eduardo Amorim (56 months ago | reply)
Amazing !
flickerl (56 months ago | reply)
ich bin nach wie vor ziemlich sicher, dass das kein banksy ist. woher weißt du das? außerdem schätze ich, dass die schrift später von irgendeinem deppen dazu kam, der meint, es käme gut, wenn ratten crack fressen, bzw. dass menschen, die crack konsumieren, eben ratten wären. so ähnlich.
caruba (56 months ago | reply)
Da muss ich dir widersprechen. Diese Werke sind mittlerweile auf seiner offiziellen homepage aufgelistet: banksy.co.uk/outdoors/horizontal_1.htm
Es mag zwar stimmen, dass er persoenlich das nicht gemalt hat, aber es ist schon sein Werk.
Die Schrift gehoert auf jeden Fall zum Gesamtkonzept: Man konnte ja beobachten, wie das Werk waechst (inklusive Vorzeichnung auf der noch weissen Wand), und da war der Text auch dabei, in der Skizze. Uebrigens ist das eine Riesenwand (ein ganzer Geschaeftsblock), da kann man nicht einfach mal so was dazu malen. Die waren da ja tagelang mit so einer beweglichen Plattform am arbeiten...
scraplfromtheapl (55 months ago | reply)
i suppose my interpretation is that new york was hit really hard by the crack epidemic in the 80's specifically among the impoverished so i'm assuming this is just about corporate greed and neglecting the needs of those who need help and money more. even though "let them eat cake" is referring towards the elite, for some reason i sort of thought that the rat in this mural as corporate greed was saying "let them eat crack" with the lettering coming from his bloody hands, as if the rat scrawled it on the wall.
caruba (55 months ago | reply)
Thank you so much for your comment and insight!
Frank_F. (55 months ago | reply)
haha. very cool
gd586 [deleted] (55 months ago | reply)
Ah, thank you scrapl. I think you got it.
adzimney (45 months ago | reply)
that doesn't look like a real banksy. doesn't he stick to the stenciling technique?
caruba (45 months ago | reply)
It was featured on his website...
Colette2811 (42 months ago | reply)
It ´s very cool :)
shell shock (42 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Banksy, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Gir Eat Lego (27 months ago | reply)
ya Banksy is Amazing