Banksy's art has helped free accused criminals, but now it has made a man homeless.
The plot thickens as it seems there is even more drama and suspicious activity surrounding Banksy's 'This Looks A Bit Like An Elephant'.
A lot of news outlets have reported that someone appeared to live in the abandoned water tank, but that he had been gone for awhile.
But according to an interesting article from the Palisades Post , the man is named Tachowa Covington and he was confirmed living there as recently as September 2010. And the word we got from our own explorers who brought us an exclusive feature exploring the inside the elephant is that it looked like someone was currently still living there.
In fact, this story seems to get really devious as we find out that the elephant was already under attack from the "Pacific Palisades Residents Association, who want the City of Los Angeles and Caltrans to clear away abandoned structures, construction equipment and unsightly debris from along PCH".
On the other hand, Mr. Covington was trying to obtain possession of the title to the land through common law statutes which say that the "title to another's property can be acquired without compensation, by actual occupation " as long as "possession must be continuous and uninterrupted for a specific length of time and is some cases the holder must pay all taxes levied."
To further the suggestion of fowl play, a suspicious fire was started in the shed next to the 'Elephant' (as shown in the picture above).
The whole thing seems fishy. Perhaps this is just the random background detailing the history of a piece that Banksy chose to hit because of its unique shape and unrelated to Banksy's choosing the spot. But after hearing how Livin the Dream was not an impressive billboard takeover after all, but a pre-arranged 'thank you' gift to the company that financed Exit Through the Gift Shop, we are really wondering if the Elephant placement was picked in order to get rid of the 'eyesore'.
But regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the effect is that Banksy's stencil on the Elephant effectually made Mr. Covington homeless.
