The anonymous street artist and provocateur Banksy has opened a new online store, called Gross Domestic Product. The launch was heralded by an art installation-come-shop in the London Borough of Croydon, which stocks Banksy-related merchandise. However, the IRL store can’t be entered.
Announcing the enterprise via his Instagram, the illusive artist said that the store is a “showroom” for “display purposes only” but that “all sales will be conducted online when the website opens soon.” Currently, a landing page featuring an image of a flooded mall can currently be found at grossdomesticproduct.com.
A notice at the shop suggests that the decision to open a store was due to an ongoing legal battle over copyrights. It reads, “This shop has come about as a result of a legal action.” A greetings card company appears to be trying to seize legal custody of the name Banksy from the artist, who has been advised the best way to prevent this is to sell his own range of branded merchandise.
Eventually, the store will stock products “handmade in the UK using existing or recycled material wherever possible, including the ideas.” Some items on display in the storefront location include a disco-ball version of a police helmet, a copy of the Union Jack stab vest that Banksy created for recording artist Stormzy the summer, and a pillow embroidered with the saying “life’s to short to take advice from a cushion.”