Banksy famed warehouse wall heart art to support heart health

British graffiti artist’s Brooklyn wall art to benefit the American Heart Association

2025-05-16

(Press-News.org) DALLAS, May 16, 2025 — A striking Banksy artwork—a red heart-shaped balloon covered in bandages—will soon find a new home. This unique Banksy, a famed street artist known for stenciled works that blend dark humor with political and social commentary, is a 7,500-pound section of a Brooklyn warehouse wall. Following a public viewing the wall will be auctioned by Guernsey’s, an auction house for extraordinary properties, on May 21, with proceeds benefiting the American Heart Association, devoted to changing the future to a world of healthier lives for all.

The piece was created in the fall of 2013. The then 59-year-old Vassilios Georgiadis, a Brooklyn warehouse owner, offered helpful advice to a passing van driver who later turned out to be Banksy. The elusive artist returned in the middle of the night to create the mural depicting a floating Mylar balloon on Georgiadis’ warehouse wall in the Brooklyn neighborhood, Red Hook. Shortly after its creation, rival artist “Omar NYC” defaced the piece by spray-painting over the heart and scrawling his own name in front of a live crowd. Countering that - and the only time he has ever been known to re-work his art - Banksy revisited the wall at the corner of King and Van Brunt streets and embellished it further.

“To me this powerful artwork is more than just street art—it’s a symbol of the millions of lives impacted by heart disease, our nation’s leading cause of death”, said Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association. “As we continue our diligent and dedicated work to improve health for everyone, everywhere, we appreciate the support and generosity of the Georgiadis family. This donation will fund life-saving research, help us advocate for healthier communities and improve patient care.”

With Banksy’s bright red, heart-shaped balloon as the wall’s centerpiece, it was a sad coincidence when, just a few years later, Georgiadis passed away from heart disease. Honoring his memory, his family is generously donating a significant portion of the auction's proceeds to the American Heart Association.

The Banksy artwork will be on public display at the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place, lower Manhattan at 230 Vesey St, New York, through May 21, culminating in the live auction. Guernsey’s will hold the auction live on location at the Winter Garden Atrium and online via LiveAuctioneers.com with proceeds benefitting the American Heart Association.

For further information about the auction, please visit www.guernseys.com.

###

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities, the organization has been a leading source of health information for more than one hundred years. Supported by more than 35 million volunteers globally, we fund groundbreaking research, advocate for the public’s health, and provide critical resources to save and improve lives affected by cardiovascular disease and stroke. By driving breakthroughs and implementing proven solutions in science, policy, and care, we work tirelessly to advance health and transform lives every day. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, X or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.  

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists identify synthetic chemicals in food as a major blind spot in public health

2025-05-16

Scientists highlight the evidence of increasing public health impacts from exposure to synthetic chemicals in food. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine, the article discusses the types and sources of synthetic food contaminants focusing on food contact chemicals from food packaging and food processing, and their increased presence in ultra-processed foods. Considering a wide range of scientific studies and regulatory initiatives, the article provides an overarching look at the issue, outlines future research needs, and shares existing options and novel approaches to aid the sustainable transition ...

How do middle-aged folks get dementia? It could be these proteins

2025-05-16

Dementia usually affects older people, so when it occurs in middle age, it can be hard to recognize. The most common form is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which is often mistaken for depression, schizophrenia, or Parkinson’s disease before the correct diagnosis is reached. Now, as part of an NIH-funded study, researchers at UC San Francisco have found some clues about how FTD develops that could lead to new diagnostics and get more patients into clinical trials. The findings appear in Nature ...

Novel molecular maneuver helps malaria parasite dodge the immune system

2025-05-16

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered how a parasite that causes malaria when transmitted through a mosquito bite can hide from the body’s immune system, sometimes for years. It turns out that the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can shut down a key set of genes, rendering itself “immunologically invisible.” “This finding provides another piece of the puzzle as to why malaria has been so difficult to eradicate,” said Dr. Francesca Florini, research associate in microbiology and immunology ...

A step closer to the confident production of blood stem cells for regenerative medicine

2025-05-16

Stem cells can produce any other cell type, it is just a matter of telling them in the right way. From a biological perspective, this means activating the proper genetic programme by pressing the right keys, this is, the right genes, at the right moment. Quite often, blood cancer patients require the replacement of their blood stem cells in the bone marrow, the tissue producing blood cells where their cancer grows. Unfortunately, finding a compatible donor happens to be too challenging sometimes. What if we could produce the cells that make blood in the lab, right from basic stem cells, and use them to regenerate a new and healthy ...

Language a barrier in biodiversity work

2025-05-16

A University of Queensland study has shown scientific knowledge on the conservation of endangered species is often overlooked when not presented in English. PhD candidate Kelsey Hannah examined articles about the protection and management of birds, mammals, and amphibians and compared how often those in English and 16 other languages were cited in further work. “The 500 papers in my study were published in peer-reviewed journals and available internationally to people working in conservation,” Ms Hannah said. “Across the board, the non-English language papers had significantly fewer citations. “The English-language articles had a median of 37 citations while the ...

School dinners may encourage picky teenagers to eat better, says new study

2025-05-16

Having school dinners rather than packed lunches could encourage picky eating 13-year-olds to eat a wider variety of foods, according to a new University of Bristol-led study. The findings are published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics today [15 May]. The research showed when children who were picky eaters as preschoolers got to choose their own food (school dinners) at lunchtime, they were less picky in what they ate, compared with a packed lunch. To the research team’s knowledge, this is the first time that lunchtime food behaviours in picky children have been studied outside of the home, and ...

Study suggests loss of lung capacity begins between the ages of 20 and 25

2025-05-15

A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by ”la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with the Clínic-IDIBAPS, has shown for the first time, how lung capacity evolves from childhood to old age. The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, provide a new basic framework for assessing lung health. Until now, it was thought that lung function increased until it peaked at around 20–25 years of age, after which it stabilised. It was also thought that in later adulthood, lung function begins to decline as the ...

California chief nurse officer recognized as national champion for women’s health

2025-05-15

DALLAS, May 14, 2025 — Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer of women and nearly 45% of women over age 20 are living with some form of cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all. Katrina (Kat) Ascencio-Holmes, the Heart Association’s 2025 National Woman of Impact™ Winner, from Sacramento, California, is working to change that. She’s shining a spotlight on women’s health while raising funds to fuel the lifesaving mission of the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of all health, through the Go Red for Women® movement. As ...

Dental and vision services among veterans in Medicare Advantage vs traditional Medicare

2025-05-15

About The Study: Although Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offer and directly market supplemental benefits for dental and vision services, veterans enrolled in MA used these services with the same frequency as veterans in traditional Medicare (TM). Moreover, MA plans spent only modestly more on dental services and vision services for veterans than TM, including for emergency dental services. After accounting for private insurance plans used by TM enrollees and out-of-pocket spending, total spending on dental services was no different for veterans in MA vs TM. Corresponding Author: To contact ...

Under embargo: Mount Sinai experts to present new research on preeclampsia, doula care and more at 2025 2025 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting

2025-05-15

Women’s health experts from the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will present new research at the 2025 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 16–18. Please let me know if you would like to coordinate an interview about their forthcoming presentations. Mount Sinai obstetricians and gynecologists are also available to comment on breaking ...

The advent of nanotechnology has ushered in a transformative era for oncology, offering unprecedented capabilities for targeted drug delivery and controlled release. This paradigm shift enhances thera

Banksy famed warehouse wall heart art to support heart health

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: