Banksy

  • Banksy once described himself as a “normal healthy little boy obsessed with death, guns and high calibre missiles.” Emerging from...
    Banksy, Flying Copper, 2003.
    Screen-print in colours on wove paper. Edition of 750 (150 signed, 600 unsigned).
    © Banksy.

    Banksy once described himself as a “normal healthy little boy obsessed with death, guns and high calibre missiles.” Emerging from Bristol’s underground graffiti scene in the early 1990s, he was part of a generation of artists experimenting with spray paint, hip-hop culture, and the anarchic energy of the streets. One  night, after narrowly avoiding arrest by hiding beneath a lorry, he decided he needed a quicker and more efficient way of working. The answer was stencilling, a method that allowed for rapid execution, bold clarity, and repeatable imagery.

     

    This shift would shape the direction of his entire career. With stencils, Banksy developed a visual language that was instantly recognisable and sharp in its humour, irony, and political commentary. His early experiments soon gave way to the iconic imagery that captured worldwide attention, combining wit with urgency to critique war, consumerism, surveillance, and inequality. From local provocateur to one of the most influential artists of the 21st century, Banksy built a practice that blurred the lines between street culture and contemporary art while speaking to audiences across the globe.

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  • THE MOST CELEBRATED CREATIVE FUGITIVE SINCE CARRAVAGIO

    "There’s nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place."

    - Banksy 

    In 1992, two young men in Bristol, Shaun Starr and Keith Buck, were killed by a Police officer chasing them for theft of a motorbike. The event provoked three nights of bloody riots, where gangs of angry locals launched bricks at police and torched local shops. One rioter would later recount ‘It was people saying, we are here. We are not forgotten. And we’re pissed off. And you’d better take notice of us’. Somebody took a lot of notice – the very young Banksy, who vowed to immortalise the riots ‘in a great and furious’ work of art. After grafting night and day, the artist felt ready to unveil his masterpiece for what was maybe the most shaping critical review of his career – from his Mum. To his disappointment, she responded ‘Why can’t you draw something nice? Like flowers?'. Raging, the aspiring genius stormed back to his lair of a bedroom, and from there, his artistic evolution continued. 

  • "Sometimes I get credited with moving graffiti in a new direction - the wrong one"

    - Banksy 

    From the very start, Banksy’s work has carried a strong political charge. His stencils were never just about style, but about making a point. Drawing on the traditions of satire and protest, he used the street as his gallery to confront issues like war, capitalism, surveillance and inequality. What set him apart was his ability to take complex political ideas and strip them down into sharp, simple images that anyone could understand at a glance. Whether it was a child holding a balloon, a protester throwing flowers, or a rat scurrying across a wall, his works became both a critique of power and a rallying cry for ordinary people. By turning public space into a stage for political commentary, Banksy ensured that his art was not just seen, but felt in the middle of daily life.

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