Banksy Nazi painting to bring big bucks for charity

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It’s springtime for Banksy in Gramercy.
 
The elusive  graffiti artist’s  latest New York installment is a “vandalized” painting — into which the graffiti artist inserted the image of a Nazi officer sitting on a bench looking out over a pastoral scene — that’s expected to spark a wild online bidding frenzy, with a starting auction price of $76,000.
 
One self-described Banksy authority speculated that the artwork will fetch “a million dollars, at least.”
 
The oil-on-oil painting appeared in the window of the Housing Works Gramercy thrift shop on East 23rd Street Tuesday, as Banksy  headed into the homestretch of his “Better Out Than In” New York tagging tour.
 
All of the proceeds will go to charity group, which focuses on homelessness and HIV/AIDS issues.
 
“This is one of the coolest things that has happened to us in a long time,” Housing Works spokeswoman Rebecca Edmondson told The Post.
 
“It’s such a great gesture, what he did today is really special. He may be controversial, but there is no controversy in the fact that it goes to something good.”
 
The special two-day auction will end October 31, the same day Bansky’s month-long city  “residency” is slated to end.
 
Banksy titled the new piece “’The banality of the banality of evil’ Oil on oil canvas, 2013,”  describing it on his website as  “A thrift store painting vandalized then re-donated to the thrift store.”
 
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