BANKSY EXHIBITIONS AND PRANKS // THE VILLAGE PET STORE, 2008

  • Poster for Banksy's The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill
    Poster for Banksy, The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, October 2008.
    New York City, USA.
    © Banksy.
    Banksy’s first New York exhibition, The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, opened in October 2008 in a modest 300-square-foot storefront in Manhattan’s West Village. Styled as a functioning pet shop, the installation was conceived to explore “our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.” Though the interior could only hold a handful of visitors at a time, the exhibition was designed to be visible day and night through the shopfront windows, ensuring constant public engagement.
     
    Inside, Banksy presented a surreal menagerie of animatronic creatures. Among them were chicken nuggets with legs dipping themselves in sauce, robotic hot dogs engaged in bizarre acts, and a monkey watching television in a cage. Both humorous and unsettling, the installation blurred the line between spectacle and critique, asking viewers to reconsider everyday consumption and its ethical costs. With its blend of wit, discomfort, and accessibility, the show marked a significant moment in Banksy’s career, cementing his ability to merge art, activism, and public theatre in unexpected forms.
    Enquire

  • “Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.”

     — Banksy

    The choice of a pet store was deliberate. It framed the artificial creatures as “domesticated,” a mirror to the way modern society has normalised consumption without questioning its ethical weight. By staging the exhibition in a tiny, accessible space, Banksy once again broke down barriers between the art world and everyday life, drawing thousands into a dialogue on complicity, cruelty, and consumer habits.
    • Banksy Girl With Baloon

      SIGNED EDITIONS

    • Banksy Show Me The Monet 2005

      ORIGINAL WORKS

    • Banksy's mural of a rhinoceros on a car

      STREET WORKS