Banksy - Evening & Day Editions London Wednesday, September 14, 2022 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • 'As soon as I cut my first stencil, I could feel the power there. I also like the political edge. All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They’ve been used to start revolutions and to stop wars' —BanksyCombining despair and humour, in Thrower (Grey), Banksy presents the image of a young man with his face partially covered by a bandana and base-ball cap, leaning backwards in momentum to detonate a bouquet of flowers. Typical of Banksy’s socially charged imagery, the menacing figure juxtaposed with a symbol of peace and love, demonstrates the artist’s sustained interest in the absurdity of war, as well as the arbitrariness that can derive from unequal power dynamics. While the spraypainted protagonist is armed with blooming plants and nothing else, the forces surrounding him seem to operate heavier weaponry, placing him in a position of immediate danger. 


    Banksy first used this motif in 2003, when it appeared as graffiti on Jerusalem’s West Bank Wall, that which separates Israel from Palestine, shortly after it was erected. Evoking the 1960s pacific slogan ‘Make Love Not War’, the image has become a symbol of peaceful resistance and an ode to spontaneity. Despite the site-specific context of its iteration on the West Bank Wall, the image represents protest without specifying its target, embodying a hint of the punk ethos of non-conformity and perpetual resistance to authority that is typical of Banksy’s early graffiti works. Following in the footsteps of Keith Haring and Jean Michel-Basquiat, Banksy continues to utilize graffiti as a tool for activism. The motif has been reproduced in multiple formats since first conceived, including two print editions: Love Is In The Air, 2003, and Thrower (Grey), 2019. 

     

    Bernie Boston, Flower Power, October 22, 1967. Image © Worcester Art Museum / Bridgeman Images
    • Catalogue Essay

      Pest Control has confirmed the authenticity of this work and a certificate will be issued. Please note the timing of Pest Control Office's processes is outside of Phillips' control.

    • 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

150

Thrower (Grey)

2019
Screenprinted triptych in colours, on micron board, the full sheets.
overall framed 107 x 195 cm (42 1/8 x 76 3/4 in.)
Signed and numbered 211/300 in pencil on the front of the Flower panel, further numbered in pencil on the reverse of the other two panels, co-published by the artist and Gross Domestic Product, London, contained in the original artist's specified gilded wooden frame.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£150,000 - 200,000 

Sold for £214,200

Contact Specialist

Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
Specialist, Head of Sale, Editions
T +44 207 318 4079
M +44 7502 417366
rtooby-desmond@phillips.com

Robert Kennan
Head of Editions, Europe
T +44 207 318 4075
M +44 7824 994 784
rkennan@phillips.com

Anne Schneider-Wilson
Senior International Specialist, Editions
T +44 207 318 4042
M +44 7760 864 748
aschneider-wilson@phillips.com   

Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 14 - 15 September 2022