Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Sotheby's is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.
Art destruction is the decay or material destruction of original works of art. This can happen willfully, accidentally, or through natural processes.
Thierry Guetta, best known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash, is a French-born Los Angeles–based street artist. According to the 2010 Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta was a proprietor of a used clothing store, and amateur videographer who was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the street artist Invader, and who filmed street artists through the 2000s and became an artist in his own right in a matter of weeks after an off-hand suggestion from Banksy.
Slave Labour is a mural that was painted by a British graffiti artist, Banksy, on the side wall of a Poundland store in Wood Green, London in May 2012. The artwork is 48 inches (122 cm) high by 60 inches (152 cm) wide, and depicts an urchin child at a sewing machine assembling a bunting of Union Jack patches. The work was a protest against the use of sweatshops to manufacture Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics memorabilia in 2012.
The Son of a Migrant from Syria is a 2015 mural by graffiti artist Banksy. The mural was located in the Calais jungle, a nickname for the encampment near Calais, France, where migrants lived as they attempted to enter the United Kingdom. The artwork depicts the late Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs—the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States—as a traveling migrant.
Pulp Fiction is a type of work by stencil graffiti artist Banksy. Instances of it depict the characters played by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, with their guns replaced by bananas. A stencil graffiti work existed on a wall near the Old Street tube station in the City of London from 2002 to 2007. Prints of the image on its original site have been sold for £1,000. A print of the Pulp Fiction stencil was sold for £10,600 in 2012. On 24 November 2020 a signed print has fetched £125,000 at Tate Ward Auctions' "By Collectors for Collectors" event.
The Mild Mild West is a 1999 mural by graffiti artist Banksy, sited on No. 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol. It depicts a teddy bear throwing a Molotov cocktail at three riot police.
Bombing Middle England is a painting by graffiti artist Banksy. It is made of acrylic and spray paint on canvas, and depicts pensioners bowling with bombs in a manner reminiscent of Cinders McLeod's 1999 drawing Anarchic Granny.
Bomb Hugger is a 2003 painting by graffiti artist Banksy. In 2007, it sold for £31,200 at Sotheby's.
The Drinker is a statue by graffiti artist Banksy, not to be confused with the stencil of the same name, a graffiti artwork of a rat drinking a cocktail, on a wall at North Beach, Lowestoft, England.
The year 2018 in art involves various significant events.
Love is in the Bin is a 2018 art intervention by Banksy at Sotheby's London. According to Sotheby's, it is "the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction." His 2006 painting of Girl with Balloon unexpectedly self-destructed immediately after it was sold at auction. The damaged painting was later renamed Love is in the Bin. It has been on permanent loan to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart since March 2019. In October 2021, it sold at auction for £18,582,000, a record for the artist.
Devolved Parliament is a 2009 oil-on-canvas painting by Banksy, replacing British politicians debating in the House of Commons with chimpanzees. In 2019, the artwork became Banksy's most costly to date, selling for £9.9 million at Sotheby's in London on October 3, 2019.
The year 2020 in art involved various significant events.
Show Me the Monet is a 2005 oil on canvas painting by graffiti artist Banksy. The work is an appropriation of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series. Banksy has appropriated Monet’s paintings to now depict a traffic cone and two shopping carts polluting and submerging into Monet's pond at Giverny. The work is believed to be a commentary on the negative impacts of capitalism and consumerism within society. Show Me the Monet exists within Banksy’s Crude Oil series. The work was sold in October 2020 by Sotheby’s. The work was sold for £7.5 million.
Flying Balloon Girl, also known as Balloon Debate, is a 2005 stencil mural in the West Bank by the graffiti artist Banksy, depicting a young girl holding a bunch of seven balloons floating above the 8 meter-high wall built around the Palestinian enclave near the Qalandia checkpoint.
The Flower Thrower, Flower Bomber, Rage, or Love is in the Air is a 2003 stencil mural in Beit Sahour in the West Bank by the graffiti artist Banksy, depicting a masked man throwing a bunch of flowers. It is considered one of Banksy's most iconic works; the image has been widely replicated.
