Andipa Gallery presents the work of graffiti artist Banksy at its Knightsbridge premises from Wednesday 28 February – Saturday 24 March 2007. The show will incorporate 15 unique signed canvases and over 30 signed limited edition prints.
From the street-wise 14 year-old who began spraying graffiti on the walls inner-city Bristol, Banksy has come a long way, creating quite the media storm in the process. With a distinctive stencilling technique and politically charged humour, Banksy’s work has appeared in cities around the worlds; from depicting the Queen as a chimpanzee during her Golden jubilee, to smuggling an image of a Tesco’s tomato soup can onto the walls of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where it remained unnoticed for six days. Now believe to be 28, it is Banksy’s anonymity that has enabled him to continue and subversive stunts in prominent public places.
Political in nature, Banksy works exude anti-war, anti-capitalism,-anti-establishment sentiment. A helicopter gunship glides with a pink ribbon beneath its rotors, a bomber hurls a bunch of flowers, kids climb upon a mound of guns and the napalmed girl from Vietnam runs with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald at either side. Each of these works will be presented within the exhibition.
Banksy has also taken great influence for Andy Warhol. During his first exhibition in 2003, entitled Turf War, a cow covered in images of Warhol’s face mingled amongst police-coloured pigs and sheep bearing concentration camp stripes. Kate Moss has since been immortalized with a small series of works entitled Kate, fashioned in the style of Marilyn Monroe, while Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup series has been adapted through Banksy’s portrayal of Tesco Value Soup Cans.
Banksy’s political standing and personal wit have gained him great recognition and the market reflects his success, his work recently commanding prices in excess of 100,000. An anonymous character, Banksy converses with the viewing public through the statements of his works alone. Even as buyers Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Brad Pitt turned up to a Los Angeles warehouse to view his latest exhibition, Banksy himself did not deign to advertise his appearance. While one may not be privileged to his face, Andipa Gallery provides an inviting look into the cleverly witty, gently subversive and often beautiful works that make Banksy’s voice present.