Artist who 'kidnapped' Banksy's sculpture opposes sale of stolen statue

The artist who 'kidnapped Bansky's sculpture accuses Sotheby's of selling the 'stolen statue'. The satirical statue was 'kidnapped' from its original place by a fellow British artist called Andy Link. The statue later disappeared from his yard only to resurface in an auction listing.

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Satirical statue 'Kidnapped'

'The Drinker' as the statue is called was originally left by the anonymous British artist on display in 2004 in a small square near Shaftesbury Avenue in London. It was then that the statue was kidnapped by fellow British artist and founder of the Art Kieda collective Andy Link, who registered his found property with police. Link allegedly asked Banksy for a ransom but the elusive street artist was only willing to offer a mere 2 euros for the price of fuel can so that Link may set the artwork on fire. Link allegedly held on to the statue till 2006, at which point the monumental statue went missing from his back garden with the thief only leaving the orange traffic cone behind.

Can you claim something you kidnapped?

Link reported the case of the missing statue to the police at the time but law enforcement was not able to track down the artwork. "The Drinker" only resurfaced this autumn in the catalogue of Sotheby's Contemporary Curated auction. The auction house claims that the sculpture was acquired by its current owner through Banksy's former dealer Steve Lazarides in 2014, without making any mention of Link.
An hour before the sale was due to start the sculpture was removed from the listing and the auction house did not share any details as to the reason why it was removed.
The Drinker was originally estimated to see for between $970,950 to $1.29 million.
This controversy comes only a few weeks after Banksy dominated the Sotheby's Frieze Week auctions with his 'Devolved Parliament'.
The satirical painting sold for $12.1 million.

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