Original compositions by the world-renowned, anonymous artist Banksy are quite rare, even when factoring in his public works in Great Britain and abroad. Primarily a street artist in the early years of his career, Bansky has painted a small number of unique oil paintings and explored other media in the last two decades. However, his unauthorized graffiti, often embellished and imitated by others, still remains the means through which most people come into contact with his artistic project, followed by the limited-edition prints authorized by Pest Control Office, Banksy’s official authenticator. As recently as August 2024, Banksy again made his presence known:
Banksy is back in the spotlight after a series of animal-themed works appeared around London this week. Four images have been posted this week, though the final one lasted just hours before it was stolen. — Elizabeth Gregory
Various critics have suggested that Banksy’s latest series alludes to environmental causes, a virtual Noah’s Ark, or the raw, animal nature of humanity. Whatever the meaning behind these works, Banksy has shown a remarkable ability to stay relevant and in demand despite, or because of, his mysterious profile.
According to John Brandler, director of Brandler Art Galleries in Essex, east of London, Banksy’s anonymity has ceased to be all-important. “To the art world it doesn't matter anymore,” Brandler asserts. “The brand is so big now. His people have made the brand Banksy such an incredible thing, it wouldn't make any difference now [if he were unmasked].”
While such an intriguing claim is debatable, there is no doubting that Banksy has crafted an image over time as a rebellious outsider whom established, artistic institutions have not only come to admire but elevate. Banksy speaks truth to power through his art, often in a mocking way, and at least the art world (if not other nodes of influence) seems to revel in such lampooning, perhaps as a way of taking some of the sting out of the critique or to monetize it.
Banksy’s 2006 work Morons depicts an auction in progress with the following words inside an ornate frame: I CAN'T / BELIEVE / YOU MORONS / ACTUALLY / BUY THIS / SHIT. That same year, Banksy painted his iconic Girl with Balloon, which, in 2018, became Love is in the Bin when it was shredded in real time during a Sotheby’s auction. Banksy’s representatives had set very specific conditions for the auction of the work, including that it was not to be removed from the frame—because a shredder was secretly built into the bottom. So it seems that Banksy’s elaborate prank on the art world was years in the making.
In addition to skewering art world conventions and economic imperatives, Banksy regularly calls attention to how the police and military function within society. From his Flying Copper to Bomb Love to Golf Sale (all from 2003), and many other works, Banksy is fond of presenting viewers with visual non sequiturs: a policeman with a happy face and angel’s wings; a young girl embracing a bomb; a man holding a sign for a GOLF SALE in front of a trio of tanks. Beyond the initial amusement these juxtapositions produce, there is a thought-provoking conflation of familiar symbols along with an implication that we are all complicit to a degree in the excesses of these systems of power.
Banksy has also leveraged popular culture to give his works greater currency and broader appeal. In Pulp Fiction (2003), Banksy replaces the guns of stars John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson with bananas using his trademark stenciling technique to render their famous pose in silhouette. Stop and Search (2007) features a combat policeman inspecting the contents of the basket of Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, in The Wizard of Oz, as her concerned dog, Toto, watches at her feet.
Back in 2013, Banksy held a residency in New York’s Central Park, entitled Better Out Than In, during which he sold original paintings for a mere $60. Apart from this rare opportunity, purchasing a print by Banksy, authorized by Pest Control, has become the most reliable way to own a work by this generally beloved, yet thoroughly iconoclastic, artist who still possesses a surprising amount of street credibility given his extended time in the public eye. Of course, it is also possible to pilfer or efface Banksy’s notorious graffiti installations as soon as he unveils them.
Banksy’s works don’t function within the regulations of the museum, in which conservation and the freezing of time [are] key. Their destruction could in many ways be seen as an act of preserving the ideals of graffiti practice itself. — Rafael Schacter
Otherwise, acquiring prints or other limited-edition works by Banksy is the easiest, and most legitimate, way to collect this enigmatic artist. While Banksy has been critical of the art world throughout his career, he has nonetheless benefitted from its exposure. Simultaneously, Banksy has endeavored to protect his image and artistic legacy, through Pest Control, even if his reputation as a rogue street artist would suggest he is above such professional concerns.
Banksy b. 1975
Above all enigmatic, Banksy is one of the most controversial street artists in the world who has created a subculture unto himself. His politically charged works have left an indelible mark on cities across the globe, sparking alternative perspectives and inspiring a veritable artistic revolution. Despite over three decades on the international graffiti scene, Banksy's identity remains a well-guarded secret. Starting as an admirer of Parisian graffiti artist Blek Le Rat, Banksy honed his distinct style within the DryBreadZ Crew in Bristol, England before partnering with the notable artist Inkie. His graffiti career nearly met its end at the hands of the police, leading him to discover the efficiency of stenciling, which became his signature organizing conceit formally. Banksy's art often features multi-layered stencils combined with existing urban elements like street signs and fire hydrants, creating powerful, and often provocative, public installations with satirical undertones. Thematically, Banksy uses his art to communicate anti-war, anti-capitalist, or anti-establishment messages with subjects commonly consisting of children, the elderly, policemen, soldiers, apes, and, of course, rats.
By the early 2000s, Banksy had moved from Bristol to London, gaining notoriety both nationally and internationally. His artistic journey even took him to Palestine, where he left a lasting mark on the West Bank Wall with iconic images like Love is in the Air (2003). Simultaneously, his silkscreen prints and stencil paintings shattered records at various prestigious auction houses. Banksy's true identity remains a subject of much debate and conjecture, enhancing the intrigue around his art. While his persona is clouded in mystery, Banksy is generally assumed to have been born in the mid-1970s. Over the last two decades, a range of outlets and experts have tried to determine who Banksy really is. Among the most common claims are: Robin Gunningham from Bristol; Robert Del Naja from the trip hop group Massive Attack; Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan; and Billy Gannon, a local councillor from Pembrokeshire in South Wales. The iconoclastic nature of Banksy's work and his longstanding anonymity have created what journalist Max Foster termed the "Banksy Effect," through which interest in street art has risen generally everywhere.
During the course of his clandestine career, Banksy has orchestrated thought-provoking spectacles, such as his New York residency, Better Out Than In (2013), where he sold original paintings in Central Park for $60. In 2015, he opened Dismaland, a fully functional, dystopian theme park in Somerset, England, and designed the Walled Off Hotel in 2017 in Bethlehem, both of which drew widespread attention. Banksy's complex relationship with tourism has led to both support and criticism. In a famous incident, Banksy's Girl with Balloon (2006) partially self-destructed at a Sotheby's auction in 2018 by virtue of a mechanical paper shredder that was concealed within an ornate frame. Attendees at the auction, and the art-following public, expressed a mixture of shock and amusement. This work was later renamed Love is in the Bin (2018) and sold at Sotheby's in 2021 for £18.6 million ($23.1 million). In 2017, Banksy donated a series of paintings titled Mediterranean Sea View to raise funds for a Bethlehem hospital, highlighting the European migrant crisis. His artwork Venice in Oil aimed to call attention to the negative impact of mass tourism on Venice at the 2019 Biennale. Banksy's painting Devolved Parliament (2009), depicting the British House of Commons overrun by apes, sold for £9.9 million ($12.3 million) at Sotheby's in 2019. A year later, his reinterpretation of Monet's water lilies, Show Me The Monet (2005), sold for £7.5 million ($9.3 million), emphasizing society's wasteful consumerism.
Over the years, Banksy's work has been featured in occasional exhibitions at assorted smaller or alternative galleries and museums. This is not by accident since Banksy uses the outside world as his primary staging ground. In 2010, Banksy directed a documentary entitled Exit Through the Gift Shop, which blends fact and fiction to highlight the exploits of Banksy, Thierry Guetta (a.k.a., Mr. Brainwash), Shepard Fairey, Invader, and other street artists. Perhaps owing to Banksy's lingering anonymity, his outsized fame, and the pervasive yet evanescent nature of his oeuvre, an independent organization, GTP Exhibitions, recently assumed the onus of curating a significant, but by no means comprehensive, traveling exhibition of Banksy works owned by private collectors in The Art of Banksy. All works have been certified by Pest Control, Banksy's official authenticator, despite the show not having been authorized by Banksy himself.
