Banksy CND Soldiers (signed)

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Year: 2004
Size: 70 x 50 cm
Signature: Hand Signed
Frame: Never Framed
Edition: 350
Medium: Screen Print

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Short Description

Banksy (English, b. 1974) is a graffiti artist whose artwork has appeared

throughout London and other locations around the world. Bansky's artwork is

characterized by striking images, often combined with slogans. His work

regularly engages political themes, satirically critiquing war, capitalism,

hypocrisy and greed. Common subjects include rats, apes, policemen,

members of the royal family, and children. In addition to his two-dimensional

work, Banksy is known for his installation artwork. One of the most celebrated

of these pieces, which featured a live elephant painted with a Victorian

wallpaper pattern, sparked controversy among animal rights activists. He was

the subject of a 2010 documentary, "Exit Through the Gift Shop,

Banksy’s original

stenciled anti-war piece, Soldiers Painting Peace, became

prominent after it was displayed in a collection at the Tate Britain gallery in

London in 2007. The collection was a recreation of an artistic display outside of

the Houses of Parliament, which was confiscated for supposedly violating a law

against unauthorized protest within a certain distance of the building. In this

painting two soldiers dressed in battle gear warily look around as they conspire

to paint a peace sign on a wall. One is crouching down and holding a machine

gun, while the other is holding a brush that has been dipped into a can of red

paint and is working on completing the sign.

This satirical work by Banksy repudiates the repression of free speech that

often takes place when a nation is at war, in an effort to maintain the

appearance of consensus. In this work men who are armed with deadly

weapons fear for their lives, which highlights that repression in a society may

occur not only a physical but also an intellectual level. This is especially ironic

when the justification for the war is to spread liberty and democracy

Description

 CND Soldiers  Signed With POW Certificate of Authenticity Signed Screenprint on Paper. Numbered and signed by Banksy  2005 50 x 70 cms (27.56 x 19.69 inches unframed size) Edition 350 BackgroundThis screenprint is one of Banksy’s most iconic works. Juxtaposing the depiction of soldiers and a peace sign, a gun and a paintbrush, Banksy addresses the fraught intersections of art and war. Enacting graffiti’s sub-culture status as physical violence against buildings and conceptual violence against ideas of social order, the image boldly asserts its disobedience. Setting soldiers alongside the peace sign makes the soldiers’ physical presence into an emblem of war, and makes a bold political statement against the dehumanisation of soldiers. Banksy’s trademark use of black silhouettes reinforces the symbolism of red; here the dripping paint overtly references the bloodshed of war, drawing attention to the uncertain role of the military in achieving peace.