Created in 2003, Have a Nice Day belongs to an important early group of Banksy screenprints in which the artist adapted the direct visual language of his street practice to editioned works on paper. This impression is numbered from the unsigned edition of 500 and was published by Pictures on Walls, London. A separate signed edition of 67, commonly known as the ‘Anarchist’ edition, was also produced.

Across the unusually wide composition, twenty-seven riot police advance in formation around an armoured vehicle. Their dark uniforms, helmets and protective equipment establish an atmosphere of institutional force, yet each officer’s face has been replaced by a bright yellow Acid House smiley. Beneath the vehicle, the seemingly courteous phrase ‘Have a nice day’ introduces a further note of incongruity, transforming a familiar pleasantry into an ambiguous and faintly menacing instruction.

The smiley face emerged as a widely recognisable emblem of late twentieth-century consumer culture before becoming associated with Britain’s Acid House and rave movements. Banksy appropriates this symbol of collective pleasure and optimism, placing it upon anonymous representatives of state authority. The cheerful masks neither diminish the officers’ threatening presence nor render them approachable; instead, their mechanical repetition heightens the tension between the appearance of friendliness and the exercise of control.

By combining the visual economy of a stencil, the scale of a cinematic procession and the language of commercial reassurance, Banksy creates an image that is simultaneously humorous and unsettling. Have a Nice Day exemplifies the artist’s ability to turn familiar symbols against their conventional meanings, using irony to examine authority, conformity and the presentation of institutional power.

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Pest Control. A detailed condition report is available upon request.