Banksy
Peckham Rock by Banksy
2018

Name: Peckham Rock by Banksy
Brand: Banksy
Price: 1234.45 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Wood Sculpture 4.70 x 7.10 x 0.14 in 11.9 x 18.0 x 0.4 cm This edition is authorised by Pest Control / Banksy and was created for the British Museum as part of the iObject exhibition in 2018. Since arriving on the Bristol underground art scene in the 1990s, Banksy–whose real identity remains a mystery–has been behind some of the most audacious and witty guerilla art around the globe. Getting his start in tagged graffiti, the British artist quickly adopted his signature graphic street art style where he spray paints stencils made digitally beforehand. His recurring subjects–rats, police, children–are often presented in ironic juxtapositions that critique political authority, consumerism, and terrorism. “All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They’ve been used to start revolutions and to stop wars,” says Banksy, whose most famous works include paintings on Israel's West Bank barrier wall that imagine an opening to the Palestinian side, and “Rage, Flower Thrower,” a rioter stenciled in black and white whose bomb is replaced by a colorful flower bouquet. In addition to his distinctive graffiti which has appeared extensively throughout London and Bristol, his stunts include incorporating his own artworks into the collections of major museums such as the Louvre and Tate Modern and selling his canvases, worth tens of thousands of dollars, in New York’s Central Park for $60. Eschewing the gallery system, Banksy has made a plea to keep artworks outside “on the cave walls of our communities.” Since 2001, when he presented works in an abandoned subway tunnel that he painted white, the artist has continued to exhibit in unconventional spaces such as industrial warehouses in London and Los Angeles. 2010 saw the artist widening his oeuvre, with Exit Through the Giftshop, a mock documentary on street art, which premiered in a pop-up cinema in a London underpass. Fellow street artist Shepard Fairey described the film as, “a way for Banksy to tell his story but at the same time critique the street art phenomenon,” proving that for Bansky, even his own art practice is not off limits.

Creator:

Banksy

Creation Year:

2018

Dimensions:

Height: 4.7 in (11.94 cm)Width: 7.1 in (18.04 cm)Depth: 0.14 in (3.56 mm)

Medium:

Wood

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2010-

Condition:

Gallery Location:

London, GB

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU1608214395182

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Banksy

Of the numerous feats that Banksy has accomplished over the course of his career as an international artist, activist and filmmaker, perhaps the most astonishing is that while he is among the most famous figures in street art, he has managed to remain completely anonymous.

There is a method behind the madness, however. Banksy maintains that he chooses to conceal his identity to make a more democratic impact with his work, the themes of which include criticism of world leaders, consumerism and terrorism.

Although not much is known about Banksy — he sent a photo of himself with a paper bag on his head to Time magazine for a profile — it is believed that he was born in the city of Bristol, in southwest England, circa 1974. Wit, irreverence, dark humor and activism come together in his work, which spans graffiti, paintings, prints, sculptures and filmmaking. (His film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, which focuses on another street artist known as Mr. Brainwash, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2010 Academy Awards.)

Banksy began as a graffiti artist in his hometown in the early 1990s. He has found fame for his stenciled and spray-painted pieces, which are most often rooted in anti-war or antiestablishment messaging, appearing in cities such as London, New York and Los Angeles and for his “stunts” that are intended to subvert and provoke the art world. One particularly memorable stunt took place in 2018, when, as soon as one of his paintings sold at auction — Girl with a Balloon, which fetched an extraordinary $1.4 million — it self-destructed and proceeded to partially shred itself. Banksy even snuck into the Louvre and hung his own version of the Mona Lisa in 2006. Despite his elusive persona and commitment to bringing art to the masses, Banksy is one of the most coveted artists at auctions across the world.

And his work is undeniably impactful.

At a record-breaking auction organized by Damien Hirst, Bono and others to benefit AIDS charities in 2008, Banksy’s Keep It Spotless — a modified Hirst painting — fetched nearly $2 million. In May of 2020, Banksy donated Game Changer, a painting that honors UK healthcare workers, to Southampton General Hospital. When it went to auction in 2021, it sold for more than $23 million at Christie's in London. All proceeds went to the National Health Service.

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