Banksy - Evening & Day Editions London Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Immediately recognisable and instantly touching, Girl with Balloon is one of Banksy’s best-known images. It depicts a young child who reaches out to a red heart-shaped balloon that is just out of her grasp, as her hair and dress are blown by a strong gust of wind. It is ambiguous as to whether she has intentionally released the balloon, evoking an endearing image of childhood freedom, or if she has accidentally lost her grip on the dangling string and is watching in despair as the balloon slips into oblivion. Either way, when the work was graffitied on London’s Waterloo Bridge (later removed by the council), Banksy paired it with the phrase 'There is always hope'. Because of this, the work has come to represent both childhood innocence and the importance of maintaining hope, even in the darkest of times. Such themes link Banksy’s work to the French film of 1956, Le ballon rouge (The Red Balloon). The Oscar-winning short film is set in the streets of post-war Paris, and tells the story of Pascal, a young boy who is followed by a red balloon that appears to have a mind of its own. As in Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, Pascal’s red balloon serves as a symbol of hope and light. 

     

     

    Girl with Balloon is one of Banksy’s many works that focus on the theme of childhood. The artist utilises the innocence and moral virtue associated with children to turn a mirror on society, foregrounding its faults and injustices. Banksy frequently combines images of childhood, and its closely connected notions of both purity and nostalgia, with somber and despondent themes of war, political division, and mass-surveillance. In doing so, the tenderness of the child’s image evokes an increasingly powerful and provocative message. Viewers of Girl with Balloon cannot help but feel empathy for the young child’s loss. But, at the same time, her out-reached hand embodies a determined and admirable longing for something better. For this reason, the image has become a universal symbol of optimism.

     

    Voted in 2017 as the United Kingdom’s favourite artwork, the image has unwavering appeal. Despite the physical graffiti versions being removed by the authorities, the iconic artwork lives on in many different iterations. Banksy has reimagined the work multiple times in recent years to align it with various political statements. This includes in 2014 to raise awareness of the war in Syria and in 2017 to encourage anti-Conservative voting in the UK election.

    • Artist Biography

      Banksy

      British • 1975 - N/A

      Anonymous street artist Banksy first turned to graffiti as a miserable fourteen year old disillusioned with school. Inspired by the thriving graffiti community in his home city, Bristol, Banksy's works began appearing on trains and walls in 1993, and by 2001 his blocky, spray-painted works had cropped up all over the United Kingdom. Typically crafting his images with spray paint and cardboard stencils, Banksy is able to achieve a meticulous level of detail. His aesthetic is clean and instantly readable due to his knack for reducing complex political and social statements to simple visual elements.

      His graffiti, paintings and screenprints use whimsy and humour to satirically critique war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed — with not even the Royal family safe from his anti-establishment wit.

      View More Works

82

Girl with Balloon

2004
Screenprint in colours, on wove paper, with full margins.
I. 39.1 x 24.7 cm (15 3/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
S. 70.1 x 50.1 cm (27 5/8 x 19 3/4 in.)

Numbered 200/600 in pencil, an unsigned impression (there was also a signed edition of 150), published by Pictures on Walls, London (with their blindstamp), with the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£70,000 - 90,000 ‡♠

Sold for £109,620

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Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 18 - 19 January 2023