Banksy’s ‘The Banality of the Banality of Evil’ for “Better Out Than In”

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Banksy has had the authorities of New York as well as fans on their tip-toes this entire month of October. Shying away from controversy is not his thing. Today, The Banality of the Banality of Evil from the elusive British graffiti artist for “Better Out Than In.” Repurposing a thrift store painting for a Nazi-emblazoned oil-on-oil-on-canvas offering, the piece is a reference to famed Jewish German-American political theorist Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil – a 1963 publication that followed her reporting for The New Yorker on the infamous trial of Holocaust organizer and Nazi lieutenant colonel, Adolf Eichmann. With the importance of art in mind, the painting will be donated back to the shop from which it came. The painting will be put up for auction by East 23rd Street’s Housing Works Thrift Shop.