Banksy’s Most Iconic and Sought-after Pieces
Iconic British street artist Banksy is renowned for his thought-provoking and politically charged artworks. The true identity of Banksy still remains a mystery, adding to the allure surrounding his work. Since rising onto the contemporary art scene in the early 2000’s, the demand for his work has seen a meteoric rise. Explore some of his most iconic and sought-after prints, all of which are available to purchase from Extraordinary Objects:
“If you want to say something and have people listen,
then you have to wear a mask”
Love Is In The Air (2003)
‘Love Is In The Air’ (2003), Screen print on paper
In Love Is In The Air, Banksy demonstrates his sustained interest in the absurdity of war, as well as the randomness that can derive from unequal power dynamics. The print exemplifies both Banksy’s formal artistic style as well as his powerful political activism, as it represents a powerful call for peace
Details:
Banksy
Love Is In The Air (2003)
Screen print on paper
50 x 70 cm
Signed by the artist
Artist Proof (Edition of 27)
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
‘Love Is In The Air’ is one of Banksy’s most iconic motifs and depicts a figure getting ready to launch the universal symbol of love and peace, a bouquet of flowers, as opposed to a weapon. The most well-known mural version of this motif was executed in 2003 in Jerusalem shortly after the construction of the West Bank Wall, a 760km wall that separates Palestine from Israel (seen right).
Love Is In The Air, Bethlehem, Palestine
Thrower (2019)
‘Thrower’, Screenprinted triptych on micron board
Thrower was produced in 2019 as part of Banksy’s homewear store Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Banksy fragmented his iconic Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower) into a triptych, focusing on the torso of his figure. Unlike his original spray painted mural, Thrower was executed with the manual printing technique of silk screen printing with GDP explaining, "This is Banksy’s first experiment with a new technique for making prints - spray the stencil onto processing film and expose the result directly onto a silk screen. This avoids photography or computer manipulation and creates a super accurate analogue representation of gestural mark making. In other words - looks pretty dope”.
Details:
Banksy
Thrower (2019)
Screenprinted triptych on micron board
211 x 108 x 5 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 300
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Girl with Balloon (2004)
‘Girl with Balloon (Pink)’, Screen print on paper
Girl with Balloon depicts a young girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon, just out of her grasp. Like most Banksy’s works, the image is an ambiguous one fraught with emotive interpretations—some see the girl as losing the balloon, while others see her as on the verge of catching it—it is a symbol of hope, love, and freedom. The balloon is an archetypal symbol of childhood and freedom many of us connect with. More than a simple child’s toy, it evokes the fragility of what it stands for innocence, dreams, hope and love.
Details:
Banksy
Girl with Balloon (Pink) (2004)
Screenprint on paper
70 x 50 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 88
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Banksy originally produced Girl with Balloon as a mural in the early 2000’s with the most famous being in London’s Southbank, though this no longer remains there. In 2018, a framed copy of the work was shredded after being sold at auction by way of a mechanical device Banksy had hidden inside the frame. Banksy confirmed that he was responsible for the shredding and gave the altered piece a new name, Love is in the Bin. Sotheby's called this work "the first in history ever created during a live auction."
Girl with Balloon, London South Bank, 2003
Laugh Now (2003)
‘Laugh Now’, Screen print on paper
Laugh Now portrays a forlorn monkey, wearing a sandwich board suggesting that he is oppressed or enslaved. Along with the rat, the monkey is one of Banksy’s most frequently used animal characters, to satirise the nature of humankind. Laugh Now is a criticism of the way humans have been treating animals, our primate cousins, whether poaching or capturing them for entertainment, or medical testing. The ominous text on the board is both mocking and threatening, suggesting that the character is preparing an uprising, as if Banksy is warning of an imminent revolution. It is also the artist’s humorous take on Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Details:
Banksy
Laugh Now (2003)
Screenprint on paper
70 x 50 cm
Signed by the artist
Artist Proof (Edition of 69)
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
‘Laugh Now’ was originally commissioned in 2002 by the Ocean Rooms Nightclub on Morley Street in Brighton. as a six-meter-long spray-painted mural, with the figure of the monkey repeated ten times in a row to form a backdrop to the Brighton bar. The image created for this commission has since been used frequently by the artist including a mural in Rivington Street London (seen right).
Rivington Street, London, 2002
Gangsta Rat (2004)
‘Gangsta Rat’ depicts a black and white rat wearing a New York Mets baseball cap, a chain necklace, and carrying a ghetto blaster. The character portrayed is reminiscent of the New York underground style that was prevalent across the UK in the 1980s and 90s. The rat also appears to have tagged “iPow” on the wall behind him in spray paint. The image is an ironic social commentary on the ubiquity of Apple products, and POW is a clear reference to Banksy’s print publisher: Pictures on Walls.
Details:
Banksy
Gangsta Rat Green (2004)
Screenprint on paper
50 x 35 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 20
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Banksy initially released Gangsta Rat in the red colourway as an edition of 150, then later Gangsta Rat was produced in 6 rare colour-ways including blue, pink, green, grey, orange and mint. Banksy's appreciation for rats is often attributed to French stencil artist Blek le Rat, who is regarded as the ‘father of stencil graffiti’ and initiated urban art in France in the 1980s.
Details:
Banksy
Gangsta Rat Pink (2004)
Screenprint on paper
50 x 35 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 46
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Sale Ends V2 (2017)
Sale Ends V2 portrays a group of four cloaked individuals in various states of praying and worshipping the sign, dressed in clothing reminiscent of the lamenting figures typically seen at the base of the crucifixion in Renaissance paintings. The bold red sign reading “SALE ENDS TODAY” evokes typical shop signs designed to catch attention and encourage people to purchase products they would not necessarily need, in an obvious critique of our materialistic society.
Details:
Banksy
Sale Ends V2 (2017)
Screenprint in colours
57 x 76.5 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 500
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
All works featured are available to purchase from Extraordinary Objects. View available works by Banksy by clicking below, and please get in touch with any inquiries or questions.