CNN  — 

US artist Ron English has vowed to whitewash an artwork by Banksy that he bought for $730,000, in protest of the market in street art.

The piece in question, titled “Slave Labour,” depicts a young child on his knees by a sewing machine as he produces Union Jack bunting. It was painted on the outside wall of a bargain shop in north London in 2012 but was removed from the wall months later, before resurfacing at auction in Miami.

The lot was withdrawn after protests, but the artwork was eventually sold in London in 2013.

“Slave Labour” was sold again on Wednesday at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles. English, who bought the piece, told the UK’s Press Association news agency that he planned to whitewash it “for my good pal Banksy.”

01:31 - Source: CNN
Banksy's shredded artwork renamed

“This is a blow for street art. It shouldn’t be bought and sold,” English – who is a street artist himself and has gotten arrested many times for using public billboards, ad spaces and other highly visible spaces for his paintings and sculptures – told Press Association.

“I’m going to paint over it and just include it in one of the walls in my house,” English said. “We’re tired of people stealing our stuff off the streets and reselling it so I’m just going to buy everything I can get my hands on and whitewash it.”

He added that he plans to sell the whitewashed piece for “a million dollars … I’m crazy but I’m not stupid.”

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby's
A look at some of the recent work of the famously anonymous British graffiti artist Banksy. Banksy's "Love is in the Bin" is unveiled on October 12, 2018, at Sotheby's in London. Originally titled "Girl with Balloon," the canvas passed through a hidden shredder seconds after the hammer fell on October 5 at Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Evening Sale, making it the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction.
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Banksy protested the incarceration of Zehra Dogan, a Turkish artist who was imprisoned last year over a painting.
WWW.BANKSY.CO.UK
"Civilian Drone Strike," revealed in London last September, targeted one of the world's largest arms fairs.
VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images
The original version of Banksy's artwork features a red balloon. The print offered to voters in the Bristol area showed a balloon colored like a Union Jack flag.
Elliot Masters
In May, elusive street artist Banksy revealed a new mural. The large-scale painting depicts a worker chipping away at one of the twelve stars on the European Union flag.
Oren Liebermann/ CNN
In March, Banksy revealed a large-scale installation in Bethlehem. Titled the Walled Off Hotel, the interactive artwork features nine guest rooms and a presidential suite.
Oren Liebermann/ CNN
Each room critiques the division between Israel and Palestine, and the hotel looks out to a 30-foot concrete wall, which has been described as the largest canvas in the world.
Courtesy Matt Stannard
In June 2016 elusive UK street artist Banksy painted this mural for students at a primary school in his hometown of Bristol, England. Students had named a house at their school for the artist, who surprised them with the mural when they returned from a holiday break. Here's a look at some other notable Banksy works.
Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images
A mural of a weeping woman, painted by the British street artist Banksy, is seen in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Wednesday, April 1. The mural was painted on a door of a house destroyed last summer during the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The owner of the house said he was tricked into selling the door for the equivalent of $175, not realizing the painting was by the famously anonymous artist.
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A Palestinian child stands next to a Banksy mural of a kitten on the remains of a destroyed house in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, in February 2015.
Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
A child in Beit Hanoun walks past a mural February 2015 that depicts children using an Israeli watchtower as a swing ride.
Courtesy Banksy
A Banksy mural depicting pigeons holding anti-immigration signs was destroyed by the local council in Clacton-on-Sea, England, in October 2014 after the council received complaints that the artwork was offensive.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
A Banksy work appears at a youth center in Bristol, England, in April 2014. Called "Mobile Lovers," it features a couple embracing while checking their cell phones. Members of the youth center took down the piece from a wall on a Bristol street and replaced it with a note saying the work was being held at the club "to prevent vandalism or damage being done." The discovery came shortly after another image believed to be by Banksy surfaced in Cheltenham, England.
Courtesy Banksy
"The Banality of the Banality of Evil" actually started out as a thrift store painting in New York City. Once altered by Banksy, who inserted an image of a Nazi officer sitting on a bench, it was re-donated to the store in October 2013, according to the artist's site.
Jason Szenes/EPA/Landov
Banksy's art exhibit "Grim Reaper Bumper Car" sits on New York's Lower East Side in October 2013. The famously anonymous artist, whose paintings regularly go for six figures at auction houses around the world, said he was on a "residency on the streets of New York."
Joy Scheller/Barcroft Media /Landov
A Banksy piece covers the main entrance to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in New York's Hell's Kitchen in October 2013.
UPI/John Angelillo /LANDOV
Banksy's replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza was made in Queens out of smashed cinder blocks.
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Banksy's "Ghetto 4 Life" appeared in the Bronx in October 2013. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that Banksy was breaking the law with his guerrilla art exhibits, but the New York Police Department denied it was actively searching for him.
Joy Scheller/Barcroft Media /Landov
Banksy art is seen on the Upper West Side of New York in October 2013.
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Banksy work in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, was vandalized in broad daylight in October 2013.
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One of Banksy's pieces is this fiberglass sculpture of Ronald McDonald having his shoes shined in front of a Bronx McDonald's.
Daniel Pierce Wright/Getty Images
Graffiti depicting the Twin Towers popped up in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York in October 2013.
ANDREW GOMBERT/EPA/Landov
Banksy's "Sirens of the Lambs" art installation tours the streets of Manhattan in October 2013. It was a fake slaughterhouse delivery truck full of stuffed animals.
JASON SZENES/EPA/LANDOV
A Banksy mural is seen on a wall in Queens. The quote is from the movie "Gladiator." It says, "What we do in life echoes in eternity."
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
A woman poses with Banksy's painting of a heart-shaped balloon covered in bandages. The piece, in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, was defaced with red spray paint shortly after it was completed.
Bebeto Matthews/AP
A Banksy mural of a dog urinating on a fire hydrant draws attention
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
This installation, seen in October 2013, on the Lower East Side of New York, depicts stampeding horses in night-vision goggles. Thought to be a commentary on the Iraq War, it also included an audio soundtrack.
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Gallery assistants adjust Banksy's "Love Is in the Air" ahead of an auction in London in June 2013. The piece was sold for $248,776.
Jason LaVeris/Getty
"The Crayola Shooter" is found in Los Angeles in 2011. It shows a child wielding a machine gun and using crayons for bullets.
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Banksy murals popped up around New Orleans a day before the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2008.
Sean Gardner/Getty Images
A silhouette of a child holding a refrigerator-shaped kite is seen on a wall in New Orleans in 2008.
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Graffiti on the side of a building in New Orleans shows an elderly person in a rocking chair under the banner, "No Loitering," in 2008.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
A scene titled "Chicken Nuggets," from Banksy's "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill," is seen in New York in 2008.
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A man walks past a Banksy piece in London in 2006.
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A stenciled image of two policemen kissing is seen in London in 2005.

The sale comes after Banksy shredded his “Girl With Balloon” last month, just after it was bought for $1.4 million at Sotheby’s. The prank was widely interpreted as an example of street artists deploying guerrilla tactics to expose their disdain for the art world.

Nonetheless, the European buyer decided to go through with the purchase. According to Sotheby’s, she was happy to “end up with my own piece of art history.”