Stik’s riot mural removed from public display and sold to celebrity dealer

Stik's The London Riots mural prior to the sale. Photograph: Claude Crommelin

A mural by street artist Stik has been removed from public display and sold to a celebrity antiques dealer.

The piece, The London Riots, was painted on a garage door attached to Pogo Café in Clarence Road, Clapton.

Andrew Lamberty bought it for an undisclosed four figure sum – understood to be around £2,000 – with the proceeds going to Pogo Café, a not-for-profit workers’ cooperative promoting veganism.

The artwork could fetch as much as £50,000 at any future auction.

The sale was backed by fans who left supportive messages on Stik’s Facebook page today, but Richard Howard-Griffin, who runs street art tours of London and organises art festivals, said he feared it could set a precedent and make the private sale of public murals more socially acceptable in future.

He said: “Lamberty is depriving the community of an important artwork which he rightly recognises as important, so why not leave it there?

“His agenda is to increase Stik’s gallery prices. Stik is an important artist and his work will be worth £50,000 at some point, but it’s about the mechanics of how we get there.”

A spokesman for Mr Lamberty said Stik had endorsed the sale and that Mr Lamberty’s job as a dealer involved selling art for a profit.

A Pogo Café spokesman said the garage door had not been functioning properly and had needed to be replaced, adding: “Stik heard we were trying to raise cash. He arranged the meeting, Andrew quoted a price. Stik arranged for it to all get started.”

Stik is currently in Japan and is set to create another mural on the replacement door when he returns to Hackney.

Stik sketching during the riots in Hackney in 2011. Photograph: Claude Crommelin