Banksy

Who is Banksy? Although his identity remains a mystery, Banksy’s graffiti, paintings and prints are among today's most iconic images. His faceless persona is as much a part of a witty commentary on the world as his anti-establishment street art.

Banksy first began tagging during Bristol’s urban-culture renaissance of the 1990s. By 2000, he had taken his place on London’s graffiti scene, using stencils as his signature medium. Over the following years he began to capture the world’s imagination. Early street art included Girl with Balloon on London’s Southbank, and Love is in the Air (‘Flower Thrower’) on the Israeli West Bank wall. During this period, he began adding art interventions to his oeuvre, with pieces such as the guerrilla-hanging of a yellow smiley-face version of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. His Crude Oils confronted the Western canon, parodying artworks by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and others.

Over the following decades, Banksy would establish himself as a major cultural commentator. His artworks have addressed issues from police brutality and global political tensions to climate change and Brexit. Underpinning his graffiti is a belief that art should live among the people, and speak truth to power. However, Banksy also produces art for sale through his authentication site, Pest Control. His artworks featuring rats and chimps are among the most recognisable and sought-after at auction.

The irony that the ‘Establishment’ has embraced his anti-authoritarian art is not lost on Banksy. His screenprint Morons lampoons the auction world: the image parodies Christie’s record-breaking sale of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 1987. Headlines were made around the world when another work, Girl with Balloon (later rechristened Love is in the Bin) was half-shredded by remote control while on the auction block in 2018. Yet Banksy has also harnessed the power of the art market. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he painted Game Changer in tribute to NHS workers. Banksy gifted the painting to Southampton Hospitals Charity, with the intention that it would be sold at auction. The painting realised £16,758,000 at Christie’s London in March 2021 — then the world auction record for the artist — with proceeds used to support University Hospital Southampton staff and patients.

Banksy has an Academy Award-nominated documentary (Exit through the Gift Shop), a pop-up ‘bemusement park’ (Dismaland) and a dystopian hotel (The Walled-Off Hotel in Bethlehem) to his name. In 2019, he was voted Britain’s favourite artist, beating Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet to the title.


BANKSY

Game Changer

BANKSY

Sunflowers from Petrol Station

BANKSY

Subject to Availability

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Sale Ends Today

BANKSY

Girl with Balloon (Diptych)

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Diamond In The Rough

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Monkey Detonator

BANKSY (B.1974)

Hummingbird

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Flower Thrower Triptych

BANKSY

Love is in the Air

BANKSY

Dorothy I Don't Think...

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Girl and Balloon

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Lenin in Sight

Banksy (b. 1974)

Mona Lisa

Banksy (b. 1975)

Che Guevara on Skates

Banksy (b. 1975)

Love is in the Air

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Love is in the Air

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Girl with Balloon

BANKSY

Love is in the Air

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Laugh Now

Banksy (b. 1974)

Toxic Mary

BANKSY (B. 1974)

NOLA (Yellow Rain) - Outside of the edition

BANKSY

Girl with Balloon

BANKSY (B. 1975)

Girl with Balloon - Colour AP (Gold)

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Smiling Copper

Banksy (UK, B. 1974)

This is a Pipe

Banksy (b. 1975)

Fetish Lady

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Heavy Weaponry

Banksy (b. 1975)

Warning Sign

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Keep It Real

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Bunch of Flowers

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Choose your Weapon (Gold)

Banksy (b. 1975)

Protect from All Elements

BANKSY

Precision Bombing

BANKSY

Love is in the Air

BANKSY

Girl with Balloon

BANKSY

Nola AP (Green to Blue Rain)

BANKSY (B. 1975)

YOU TOLD THAT JOKE TWICE

BANKSY

Kate Moss - Red, Lime Green Colourway

BANKSY

Kate Moss - Green, Turquoise Blue Colourway

BANKSY

Girl with Balloon

Banksy (b. 1975)

Corrupted Oil

BANKSY

Heavy Weaponry (On Multi-Coloured Background)

BANKSY (B. 1974)

Girl with Balloon

Banksy (b. 1975)

Untitled (Fuck the Police)

Banksy (b. 1975)

Bird and Grenade

BANKSY

Banksquiat (Grey)

Banksy (b. 1975)

This Is Not A Photo Opportunity CP/16

BANKSY (B. 1974)

NOLA (White)

BANKSY

Christ with Shopping