BANKSY // Soldier with Spray-can, 2005

  • Banksy’s 2005 Soldier with Spray-can tags wall, soldier becomes graffiti artist in ironic twist.
    Banksy, Soldier with Spray-can, 2005.
    Oil on canvas. Original work missing. Dimensions unknown.
    © Banksy.
    Soldier with Spray Can (2005) depicts a man dressed in a traditional military uniform standing solemnly, but instead of a rifle or sword, he holds a spray can - a symbol of protest, vandalism, and free expression. Behind him, spray-painted graffiti hearts, peace signs, and the phrase No War clash with the seriousness of his uniform, creating a deliberate contradiction between power and resistance.
     
    First exhibited as an unsanctioned intervention in the Great Historical Painting Wing of the Brooklyn Museum, New York, in March 2005, the work forms part of Banksy's now-legendary museum pranks. By inserting this playful image into a formal setting, the artist critiques the passive acceptance of what institutions label as “art” - challenging viewers to rethink authority, conformity, and the sanitisation of protest within cultural spaces.
     
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  • “If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask.”

    – Banksy

    Created in 2005, Soldier with Spray Can shows a traditional military figure holding a spray can in place of a weapon. Behind him, graffiti symbols, including hearts, peace signs, and anti-war slogans, challenge the authority implied by his stance and uniform. First covertly installed at the Brooklyn Museum, the work highlights Banksy’s use of irony and satire to disrupt cultural spaces and critique the sanitisation of protest.

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