Banksy Calls World Trade Center Design 'Disaster'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The elusive British graffiti artist Banksy wrote in an essay on his website that the design of the World Trade Center is "a disaster.''
Banksy said the 104-story skyscraper "so clearly proclaims the terrorists won'' and that the building "lacks any self-confidence.''
Banksy likens it to a "tall kid at a party, awkwardly shifting his shoulders trying not to stand out from the crowd.''
"It's the first time I've ever seen a shy skyscraper," Banksy wrote in the essay which he said was intended as a New York Times op-ed piece.
Banksy called the design "104 floors of compromise."
"How does it stand up without a spine? It looks like it never wanted to be built in the first place," Banksy wrote. "One World Trade declares the glory days of New York are gone," he wrote, calling for a new building to replace it. "Because you currently have under construction a one thousand foot tall sign that reads 'New York - we lost our nerve.'"
Banksy Calls World Trade Center Design 'Disaster'
The paper, however, declined to publish it.
"We couldn't agree on either the piece or the art so it was rejected," Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
Century 21 decided Monday to cancel a Banksy exhibit at its flagship store near the World Trade Center site because of the controversial comments, the Daily News reported. The exhibit was supposed to run from Tuesday through Nov. 6.
New Yorkers also seemed to disagree with the artist's opinion.
"Tell him to build his own World Trade Center," one man told 1010 WINS' John Montone.
"Banksy's no good," another man said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the Trade Center site, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The artist on Sunday also tagged a building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with the words "This site contains blocked messages.''
Banksy has been in New York since the start of October for a month-long residency he calls "Better out than in."
He has set up installations in all five boroughs and fans have been flocking to see Banksy's daily installations.
Banksy posts photos of his latest works each day on both his website and Instagram; fans have also been putting images on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PHOTOS: Banksy's Street Art Vandalized
Most of the Bansky works that have gone up have been tagged over by others, and some have been completely erased.
While fans have been excited, some have expressed strong disapproval at Banksy's graffiti tactics, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Graffiti does ruin people's property and is a sign of decay and a loss of control," Bloomberg said earlier this month. "Art is art, and nobody's a bigger supporter of the arts than I am. I just think there are some places for art, and there are some places (for) no art. And you running up to someone's property or public property and defacing it is not my definition of art."
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories:
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
