UPDATE: Banksy's work was auctioned for 615.000 US$, all proceeds going to Housing Works in New York. Bravo!

As you may know, British artist Banksy is in New York right now, where he does guerilla-style socially aware art actions, like filling a truck on its way to the slaughterhouse with cute pink stuffed animals or having real Banksy prints sold for 40$ on an outdoor fair for amateur painters. Today he returned an oil painting that he bought there before for 50$ to thrift store Housing Works, but not before adding a Nazi soldier in the nature scene. Housing Works is an organization in New York (this thrift store is in Brooklyn) that helps the homeless and people with HIV/AIDS. At first, nobody realized that they had a real Banksy on their hands (charity people are not always art lovers, like we are here at DAA HQ;-) but after a stampede of photographers at their shopwindow (see photo) and a few phone calls, they soon realized that this was a good opportunity to earn a few extra bucks for their clients. Housing Works has just put the Banksy painting up for auction on the website Bidding For Good, with a starting price of 74.000$ (rising to 310.400,00 $ on Oc 31 at 8 PM). Not much for a real Banksy, as they usually sell for millions of dollars- or are stuck more or less safely to a wall, as he started his career as a graffiti artist.

If you'd like to put your bid in, you can do so here: http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/B4GItem.action?id=203949755&query.query=housing+works+ but mind you, the auction is only for 2 days, as after that Mr Banksy will go back to London town.