Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus is auctioning off a Banksy painting and plans to donate a portion of the sale to California wildfire relief.
The rare painting, titled “Crude Oil (Vettriano)” is expected to fetch as much as $6 million, according to Sotheby’s auction house.
The artwork, a climate change-tinged satire of Scottish artist Jack Vettriano’s painting “The Singing Butler,” was bought by the punk-rocker and his wife, Skye Everly, in 2011.
The original painting shows a couple in evening wear dancing on a beach while servants hold umbrellas above them. Banksy removed one of the servants and added a sinking oil tanker and two figures in hazmat suits hauling a barrel of toxic waste.
“We loved this painting since the moment we saw it. Unmistakably Banksy, but different,” Hoppus said in a statement. “This painting has meant so much to us and been such an amazing part of our lives, and now I’m excited for it to be out there in the world, seen by as many as possible. It should be seen and appreciated and celebrated and it should bring joy and anger and hope and skepticism.”
Hoppus said they planned to donate part of the proceeds to the California Fire Foundation — which assists people affected by the recent L.A. wildfires — as well as Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Cedars Sinai Hematology Oncology Research.
“Crude Oil (Vettriano)” is currently on display at Sotheby’s in New York until Thursday and then in London from Feb. 26 to March 4, before the Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction on March 4.
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