BANKSY // Cardinal Sin, 2011

  • Banksy’s 2011 Cardinal Sin bust with pixelated face, protest against church abuse cover-ups.
    Banksy, Cardinal Sin, 2011.
    Sawn-off statue, bathroom tiles, and superglue.
    © Banksy.
    In Cardinal Sin, Banksy repurposes an 18th-century stone bust of a priest, slicing off the face and replacing it with blank, pixelated bathroom tiles. The work was created in direct response to the widespread child abuse scandals within the Catholic Church and the institutional cover-ups that followed. With searing precision, Banksy transforms a symbol of religious authority into an anonymous perpetrator, stripping it of sanctity and exposing the system’s complicity in silencing truth.
     
    Installed at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the location of the sculpture is crucial to its impact. Positioned alongside Baroque altarpieces and traditional ecclesiastical art, Cardinal Sin forms a bold rupture in the visual and moral narrative. It is not just a critique of the church, it’s a challenge to art history’s tendency to sanctify power. 
     
    Interested in buying or an evaluation?
  • “I love the way capitalism finds a place—even for its enemies. It’s the equivalent of a thug offering to buy you a drink.”

    – Banksy

    In Cardinal Sin, Banksy desecrates an 18th-century bust of a priest by chiselling away the face and replacing it with pixelated bathroom tiles. The result is a haunting, faceless figure – a metaphor for the child abuse scandals within the Catholic Church and the culture of silence that surrounded them. By rendering the priest anonymous, Banksy exposes both the perpetrators and the institutions that shielded them.
    Exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the piece was placed among Baroque religious art, amplifying its confrontation with tradition and authority. Cardinal Sin is not simply a critique of the church, but a broader attack on how history and art are used to sanctify power.
    • 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