Happy Choppers originally appeared as a street art piece at the Whitecross Street Market, London in 2002. Like with many other works, Banksy has since repurposed his image with it becoming one of the most recognisable of all of the artist’s pieces. The helicopter motif can also be found in both works on canvas and in the landscape of two of the artist’s Crude Oils series.

Much like many of Banksy’s works, motifs and imagery ‘Happy Choppers’ has become a modern icon identifiable across the world by both those familiar and unfamiliar with the artist. Created for a Christmas art exhibition entitled Santa’s Ghetto, Happy Chopper’s is arguably one of the artist’s most famous pieces.

Typical of Banksy, the artwork fuses together dark humour, politics and comedic juxtaposition in his instantly familiar style and execution. ‘Happy Choppers’, a potential reference to the London based mini-market Happy Shopper, shows a group of armed military helicopters (Apaches) in flight formation against a bright blue sky. Stylised and cartoonish white clouds reminiscent of crisp candy floss peaks and Super Nintendo era Mario backgrounds dot the skyscape contrasting with the menacing tone of the helicopters. The incoming armed squadron move towards the viewer who is set in their sights and drawn into the piece. Set against a bright blue sky, the dark colours and realistic stencil lines emphasise the threat of the choppers, armed bombs and weapons at the ready creating a sense of immediate and devastating danger.

The choppers, lined in formation, aggressively detailed and ready for war are dis-armed, at least momentarily, by the childish pink bows and stylised sky. Jarring and snapping the viewer between realities, the work presents the helicopters in a childlike way, almost like toys in the imagination of a child, before their menace sets back in and we are reminded of the horrors of war. Military might and masculinity are neutered momentarily and rendered null by the “girlish” bubble gum pink of the bow placed upon the cockpits of the aircraft.