I Fought The Law
Sharing the same name as the infamous Clash song released in 1977, IFTL is a work that even resembles a record cover of sorts. The central image for the work is inspired by the shocking footage of the attempted assassination attempt of U.S President Ronald Regan by John Hinkley. Hinkley, diagnosed as a delusional schizophrenic, believed that actress Jodi Foster would be impressed with him if he killed the President. In total, five shots were fired with no casualties. Laying wounded, pinned down by armed CIA agents, Hinkley casts a macabre and sinister figure as the full force of his rebellion is crushed by the state. Nullified, the would-be assassin has attempted to fight the law and lays paralysed - grievous action failed as the establishment takes over.
Grannies
Pop pink meets the idyllic image of a nursing home as two stereotypical grannies sit knitting, However, in typically Banksy subversive styles: these are no ordinary grannies. Gone is the image of an old dear fumbling for Werther’s Originals in their handbag (the type to lick a tissue and lovingly dot your cheek). However, in archetypal Banksy fashion a twist is given to the work as, emblazoned in block-capitals across the jumpers, what they are knitting says “Punks Not Dead” and “Thug For Life” Punk being both an attitude and type of music and “Thug for Life” a phrase often used by late rapper Tupac Shakur. The humorous work, executed in Banksy’s well-known stencil style, juxtaposes the concept of an innocent grandmother with rebellious slogans
Turf War
A seminal artwork, Turf War the painting was the centrepiece of the artist’s bold and infamous second solo exhibition, which marked his breakthrough, taking the British art scene by storm in July 2003. Showing the anti-establishment wit and satirical humour integral to the very best of Banksy’s output, the work depicts a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill on a huge scale (254 x 254 cm). Churchill is a figure revered by many for his successful premiership that played a part in Britain’s triumph in the Second World War and criticised by others for his strong monarchist and imperialist views. While clearly referencing Yousuf Karsh’s portrait of Churchill that once became emblematic of British defiance against fascism, Turf War – executed on canvas in Banksy’s acclaimed stencilled style – subverts the pathos of the original image by portraying the British political icon with a green mohican made from turfed grass. Born out of Banksy’s rebellious visual language, this irreverent depiction continues to hijack the physical and conceptual spaces that, in Banksy’s own words, do not belong to him, unsettling the social order upheld by an elite class.
Gangsta Rat
Graffiti is considered one of the four elements of hip hop, along with emceeing (rapping), DJing, and b-boying (breakdancing). Graffiti, like the other three elements, is an artform, a means of cultural expression. Like the other forms of hip hip, it also expresses resistance. Rats, along with monkeys, are an archetypal motif that Banksy uses across his works. An iconic subject, Banksy in his 2005 book Wall and Peace, writes “[Rats] exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilisations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model”. Gangsta Rat shows a sitting rat wearing a New York Mets baseball cap sporting a heavy chain medallion sitting next to a boom-box stereo. Above the rat are the letters iP.O.W which appear to be freshly sprayed and runs down the sheet - a rapping rat befitting of the streets!
Monkey Queen
Released in a signed edition of 150 and an unsigned edition of 600, Monkey Queen was sold originally at Banksy’s seminal Turf War exhibition at a warehouse in Kingsland Road in London’s East End. A street mural of the work appeared stencilled outside the London club Chill Out Zone which was subsequently removed by the authorities for Queen Elizabeth’s golden jubilee which marked the 50th anniversary of her coronation. The RAF logo that appears behind the subversive image of the queen channels the spirit of the 1960’s Mod movement. Why you ask? Well, MoD is also the abbreviation for the Ministry of Defence, so there is a punning connection there. The RAF roundel was used in pop art by Peter Blake and Jasper Johns, and was adopted by The Who as part of their stage set, costumes and album artwork in their early career, when they were a mod band.
HMV
Arguably the most obvious reference to music, HMV is one of Banksy’s most popular motifs. Moving away from more exotic animals, ‘HMV’ brings the viewer firmly into the territory of the quotidien with its use of a domestic animal and its adaptation of the HMV logo. In ‘HMV’ we see the artist referencing and repurposing the iconic logo of the famous British music and entertainment company HMV. The logo itself is derivative of a painting by the Liverpudlian artist Francis Barraud that depicts a dog, called Nipper, listening intently to a cylinder phonograph reportedly of his deceased master’s voice. The work shows a seated dog facing a gramophone that has been anthropomorphised by the artist and casually aims at the gramophone. Violence and rebellion occur as the dog, taking arms against its master, to dry comic effect forgoes the usual tropes of being a “good boy”.
As with all of Banksy’s artworks, there is a deeper meaning behind the seemingly simple imagery and HMV is no exception. Could the work be a comment on the old vs the young? An attack on the commercialisation of art in many forms? Provocative and evocative, the work (however it can be read) is one of Banksy’s most well known.
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