During this very difficult time, auction houses are moving most of their programs online. For example: on Sotheby's website, until March 26th, it will be possible to participate for the sale of Banksy / online. The sale offers an important range of refined prints and multiples that will surely appeal to all Banksy fans, from the first buyer to the established collector.
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Leading the group is an edition of "Girl with Balloon" with the exceptionally pink instead of a red balloon, which will be offered with an estimate from 300 thousand to 500 thousand pounds. Among the most followed lots at the moment there is the girl with the pink balloon for which 280 thousand pounds have been offered and another print in which the balloon is traditionally red which is still at 65 thousand pounds. The list continues with the legendary Love Rat with an offer of 32 thousand pounds and Flying copper always at 32 thousand pounds. "This is our second edition of the Banksy / Online auction series, the first one took place in September last year and it was a sold-out sale with 100 per cent of the lots sold. 102 bidders participated and the highest lot was Girl with Balloon which reached £ 200,000 from an estimate between £ 60,000 and £ 80,000, "said Sotheby’s team.
Banksy (Born 1974 England) is a graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose artwork has appeared throughout London and other locations around the world. Despite this, he carefully manages to keep his real name from the mainstream media. However, many newspapers assert that his real name is Robert or Robin Banks Banksy, despite not calling himself an artist, has been considered by some as talented in that respect; he uses his original street art form, often in combination with a distinctive stencilling technique, to promote alternative aspects of politics from those promoted by the mainstream media. Some believe that his stencilled graffiti provides a voice for those living in urban environments that could not otherwise express themselves and that his work is also something which improves the aesthetic quality of urban surroundings; many others disagree, asserting that his work is simple vandalism (a claim made by at least Peter Gibson, spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy), or that his (apparently left-wing) beliefs are not shared by the majority of the inhabitants of the environments that he graffitis.
This political purpose behind his vandalism is reminiscent of the Ad Jammers or subvertising movement, who deface corporate advertising to change the intended message and hijack the advert. Banksy does, however, also do pay work for charities (e.g., Greenpeace) as well as demanding up to £25,000 for canvases. It has also been alleged and denied that Banksy has done work with corporations such as Puma. This has led to him being accused of being a sell-out and a careerist by other artists and activists. Read more about Banksy...
Cover image: Banksy, Pulp Fiction, Estimate/ 15,000 - 20,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.
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