Banksy | Girl With Balloon

Girl with Balloon, 2004
Screenprint in Colours
27 3/5 × 19 7/10 in
70 × 50 cm
Signed and numbered by the artist
Edition of 150

Banksy | Girl With Balloon

Banksy’s Girl With A Balloon is one of his most recognisable works. With two simple shapes, one burst of red, and a short faded statement, “There is always hope” Banksy is able to leave an impressionable mark on viewers of this artwork.

Banksy | Girl With Balloon. A stencilled painting of a little girl reaching for a red, heart-shaped balloon first appeared under the Waterloo Bridge in London in 2002. Banksy, the popular street artist behind the image, included in his initial rendition the caption: “There is Always Hope.” While the iconic mural was later destroyed, the motif quickly grew in popularity, earning the title of the favourite piece of British art, according to a Samsung study in 2017. To spread this message of hope, Banksy released limited edition prints of Girl with Balloon in 2003, reproduced the image in the West Bank in 2005, and projected the motif onto the Eiffel Tower to spread awareness about the Syrian conflict in 2014 (a showing that inspired Justin Bieber to get a tattoo of Girl with Balloon on his arm). Girl with Balloon is now best known for a 2018 spectacle at Sotheby’s auction house, where a 2006 painting of the image self-destructed through a shredder embedded in its frame after selling for over $1 million. “We got Banksy-ed,” Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art in Europe said after the spectacle.

Banksy prints for sale

Arguably the most controversial street artist in the world, vandal and political activist Banksy, has advanced an entire art subculture devoted to his works. His identity remains unknown and anonymous, even after over 20 years of being involved with the graffiti scene. Banksy’s satirical artwork consists of several influential and often controversial images brimming with dark humour, executed with his distinctive stencilling technique. Banksy’s artwork has been displayed and conceived all over the world on streets, walls, bridges, in countries such as Australia, England, the United States, Israel, Jamaica, and even Canada. Recently, he spent an entire month glamorising New York City with his street art, which captured the attention of thousands every day. Some of his most famous works include “Rage the Flower Thrower”(2005) and “Kissing Coppers”(2004)

Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene as he played a part in the Bristol Graffiti crew named DryBreadZ. Soon after, he began to partner with Inkie, another notable Graffiti street artist. By the age of 18, he began to develop stencils after nearly being caught by the police. He discovered that stencils were a faster and more efficient tool for street art. His stencils illustrate humorous and striking images that are occasionally combined with slogans or catchphrases in order to convey a particular message. The concepts behind his artworks are frequently political relating to messages of anti-war, anti-capitalism and anti-establishment, with the subjects often being rats, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly.  The most common form of Banksy street art, prints, and paintings that are for sale are the stencils. These are often in the form of multi-layered stencils and/or combined with other media sources, such as spray-paint.