ENORMOUS SUCCESS of the urban artist Banksy in Sotheby's sale of
Contemporary Art at its Olympia saleroom last October - when two of his works sold for over £50,000 and Banksy established himself on the auction scene - Sotheby's is now set to offer a further selection of works by him in its forthcoming February sales of Contemporary Art at both Olympia and New Bond Street on Wednesday, February 7, and Thursday, February 8, 2007, respectively. The seven works will come to the market at a time when interest in the anonymous artist is stronger than ever.
Cheyenne Westphal, Chairman of Contemporary Art, Sotheby's Europe, comments: "Banksy is an exciting artist and we are delighted to be offering further works by him in our February sales. He has an unnerving ability to get to the heart of the matter and is able to express strong political statements with poetry, energy and humour."
All seven of the works in the February sales are fitting examples of Banksy's anti-war, anti-capitalism and anti-establishment stance. The artist first came to the fore as more than 'just' a graffiti artist in 2003, with his first exhibition, Turf War. Since then, with his combination of witty street art, stunts such as smuggling his doctored oil paintings into leading museums and 'underground'
exhibitions held in disused shops and warehouses, (the locations of which are revealed on the artist's website on the day of the opening), Banksy has kept himself in the media's focus almost constantly, yet his identity remains to be revealed.
Bombing Middle England, a work of acrylic and spraypaint on canvas, is the most valuable of the pieces on offer, with an estimate of £30,000-50,000. Illustrated on the front page, the work was commissioned directly by the vendor in 2001 and is a unique piece.
Further works include Ballerina with Action Man Parts (illustrated above) which was executed in 2005 in an edition of 6. The painted resin figure has an estimate of £15,000-20,000; Bomb Hugger, an acrylic and spraypaint stencil on canvas (illustrated right) is a unique work and has an estimate of £18,000-25,000; Balloon Girl is from an edition of 25 and is expected to fetch £7,000-10,000; Glory, a work of spray paint on found lithographic print, executed in 2003, is estimated at £20,000-30,000 and Untitled, 2004, an acrylic and spray paint stencil on canvas, number 4 from an edition of 25, is estimated at £8,000-12,000.
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