BANKSY // Police Car, 2003

  • Banksy’s 2003 Police Car shown half-submerged, commentary on corruption and societal breakdown.
    Banksy, Police Car, 2003.
    Spray-paint on cardboard, 83 × 111 cm. Unique.
    Stencilled “BANKSY” lower left.
    © Banksy.
    Police Car features a sheriff’s patrol car, spray-painted in Banksy's signature black-and-white stencil, raised on bricks with all four tyres removed, their lug nuts scattered, a quiet but pointed act of sabotage. It’s a familiar urban scene: a show of authority rendered powerless, reduced to an empty shell of performative force.
     
    Like much of Banksy’s work, the meaning here is open-ended. The piece may speak to the theatricality of policing - sirens, decals, heavy machinery - versus their practical failure to serve communities effectively. With his long-standing tensions with the police, Banksy frequently targets institutions of power. Here, the force is left immobile - visible, present, but toothless - a monument to the illusion of control.
  • "They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time when somebody says your name for the last time.”
    – Banksy
    Created in 2003, Police Car depicts a sheriff’s vehicle raised on bricks, its four tyres removed and lug nuts scattered below. Executed in Banksy’s black-and-white stencil style, the piece captures the artist’s talent for turning a simple act of vandalism into layered commentary. By stripping the vehicle of function, Banksy highlights both vulnerability and the gap between appearances of authority and their real-world failures.