Banksy - Evening & Day Editions London Tuesday, June 14, 2022 | Phillips
  • 'Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.' —BanksyBest known for drawing on and appropriating recognisable visual imagery, Banksy subverts historic and political moments, turning them into his own symbols of satire. For Golf Sale, Banksy drew from Jeff Widener’s Pulitzer nominated epochal photograph of the ‘Tank Man’. On 5th June 1989, Widener captured the bold unidentified Chinese man, who confronted a row of tanks on their route out of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, following the protests and massacre of the day before when students challenged the government over issues of democracy. 

     

    Using spray-paint and stencils, Banksy simplifies the tanks into their most basic form, highlighting the outlines of their pointed guns and overbearing wheels in black and white. Placing a placard in the hands of the man, with the words ‘Golf Sale’ inscribed, and an arrow pointing the tanks in another direction, Banksy mocks the intent of the tanks and those that instruct them. The artist suggests that physical violence used to enforce ideas is as effective as firing golf balls into enemy territory. 

     

     

    • 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

100

Golf Sale

2003
Screenprint, on wove paper, with full margins.
I. 30.6 x 43.5 cm (12 x 17 1/8 in.)
S. 34.4 x 50 cm (13 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Numbered 213/750 in pencil, an unsigned impression (the edition was 150 signed and 600 unsigned impressions), published by Pictures on Walls, London, with the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 

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 June 2022