Banksy: Christie's London with silk-screen works including "Laugh Now" estimate 20/30 thousand pounds

The sale of Christie's “Laugh now but one day we'll be in charge: Banksy and 21st Century Editions” is open to offers from March 1st to March 15th. This new auction has a cheeky title in reference to the screen print Laugh Now by Banksy.

Banksy's Morons (Sepia) out of edition (2007, estimate 50.000-70.000) is part of this offering, the source image of this work is a photograph of Vincent van Gogh's record breaking sale of Sunflowers at Christie's in 1987 , with van Gogh's canvas replaced by Banksy's text. Interestingly, this particular impression has areas of extra color not seen often.

Another Banksy highlight is Choose your Weapon (VIP Gold) (2010, estimate: £200.000-300.000), the first time a gold colouration of this work has been auctioned. The auction is headed by the artist's most famous image Balloon Girl (2004, estimate: £300.000-500.000). There are editions included by street artist Stik, including Lovers (Yellow) (2011, estimate: £20.000-30.000, illustrated above right) which typically has a blue background, however this is one of four in yellow and the first time of this color is up for auction. Stik's Beggar (2009, estimate: £15.000-25.000) is one of an edition of 25 spray-painted woodcuts, originally dropped on the streets of London as part of an effort to draw attention to rough sleepers and homelessness. This edition was gifted directly to someone who helped Stik distribute these works. There are also two different color editions of Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin 2000 (Red) (2000, estimate: £20.000-30.000) and Pumpkin 2000 (Yellow) (2000, estimate: £15.000-25.000), the first time the edition yellow was auctioned at Christie's. Highlights by emerging artists include the figurative work of Jon Key, The Man in the Violet Suit (Red No. 1) (2021) (2021, estimate: £3.000-5.000) and the brightly colored Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Pattern Makers, (2020, estimate: £2.000-3.000).