BANKSY // HEAVY WEAPONRY, 1998

  • Banksy’s 1998 Heavy Weaponry shows military elephant with missile, blending humour and war critique.
    Banksy, Heavy Weaponry, 1998.
    Spray-paint on MDF board, 50.5 × 52.5 cm.
    © Banksy.
    Heavy Weaponry is one of Banksy’s earliest and most striking anti-war images. First appearing in 1998, the work shows a stencilled elephant casually strolling forward with a missile strapped to its back - equal parts animal, weapon, and commodity.
     
    Set against a rainbow-coloured barcode, the elephant is transformed from a symbol of wisdom and peace into a silent tool of destruction. The barcode, usually associated with mass consumerism, reinforces Banksy’s message: even nature and violence can be packaged, branded, and sold. Heavy Weaponry delivers a sharp critique of militarism and capitalism in classic Banksy style - simple, ironic, and impossible to ignore.
     
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  • "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable"

    - Banksy, Wall and Piece

    This artwork, created by Banksy using spray paint on MDF board, measures 50.5 by 52.5 cm. It shows an elephant stencilled in stark black, adorned with a mounted missile launcher on its back. The contrast between the innocence of the animal and the threat of the weapon creates a jarring, ironic tension. Banksy’s clean lines and minimal composition highlight his early mastery of visual contradiction. Produced in 1998, this unique work captures the beginnings of his exploration into themes of militarism, innocence and absurdity, all delivered with his signature deadpan clarity.