• BANKSY    editions

  • I Fought The Law, 2004

    Screen-print on wove paper

    70cm x 70cm

    Edition of 650 (150 Signed)

    I Fought The Law, 2004

    I Fought The Law, 2004 also known as IFTL, was a print release from 2004 based on a visual reference of footage from the attempted assassination of former-President Ronald Reagan in 1981 alongside the phrase "I fought the law and I won".
     
    In place of a weapon, Banksy has included a paintbrush, suggesting the man on the ground is an artist or protestor, creating a parallel between how authorities treat grafitti artists and violent criminals, equating the two. However, another layer of interpretation is that they are too late, as the message is already out, the artist succeeded before he was apprehended.

  • "There are no exceptions to the rule that everyone thinks they're an exception to the rules"

     

    - Banksy

    Referencing 'I Fought The Law (and The Law Won)' by The Clash from 1979 and aligning the attempted assassination of a political leader with the way street artists are treated, this work is one of Banksy's more overt criticisms of authoritarianism. These themes continue throughout his work by depicting police officers and the complex relationship we as a society have with law enforcement, for example in other works such as Flying Copper, 2003 and Stop and Search, 2007.