“I’ve made 50 of these screenprints with all proceeds going to our friends in Ukraine. Visit banksy.legacyofwarfoundation.com”
It’s a signed and hand-finished print in an edition of 50. The price is GBP 5,000 plus taxes; the market value is, of course, much higher. One can sign up here to participate in the lottery: https://banksy.legacyofwarfoundation.com. All proceeds go to the Legacy of War Foundation, an ONG helping the Ukrainians with medical supplies and other peaceful equipment.
“In Ukraine I saw a Legacy of War team sweep in and provide medical attention, heaters, fresh water and a friendly face to some very desperate people in a bombed out building. They also lent me one of their ambulances to work from, which turned out to be extremely useful when an angry babushka found me painting on her building and called the Police. I feel the least I should do is raise enough money to replace the number plates on the ambulance I hotted up..” — Banksy
The market for Banksy’s prints and multiples has been dynamic over the last decade, with prices increasing 25% annually on average. Not this year. According to the website https://www.banksy-value.com, prices for Banky’s prints have increased by 104% since the beginning of 2020. The estimate is based on real results from the auctions in London and elsewhere. In 2020, well over 250 prints were bought and sold between collectors at big auction houses. Of particular interest are the upcoming auctions at Christie’s I can’t believe you morons actually buy this sh*t, and Sotheby’s Banksy, with several iconic prints up for sale, such as Girl with Balloon, Christ with Shopping Bags, and Love is in the Air.
Prices for Banksy’s prints since 2008 to the left. The increase since August 2019 to the right. Source: http://www.banksy-value.com
Another interesting example is the print Banksquiat, from a signed edition of 300, released at the Gross Domestic Product exhibition in October 2019. It was Banky’s first regular print release since 2010. One of the Banksquiat prints was put up for sale by a collector at Tate Ward Auctions in London in August, and it sold for £118,750, including Buyers Premium.
Banksy’s Banksquiat print, sold at Tate Ward in August for GBP 118,750
How can a print by Banksy sell for £ 100,000 when a print by Picasso goes for £ 2,000? Possible explanations:
First, the prints have been an essential part of Banksy’s “oeuvre”. The prints are more than reproductions of a motive; they are handprinted art pieces in their own right. The idea behind making prints is to provide affordable artwork for the broader public. The irony is that the same print Banksy sold for £50 at the initial release in the early 2000s is now sold for more than £50,000 on the secondary market.
The trust factor: The Picasso Foundation doesn’t certify Picasso’s prints; they only care about the unique pieces. Banksy’s handling service, Pest Control Office, has created an almost fake-proof certification system for the prints, leading to high trust in the secondary market.
It’s also a question of limited supply and increasing demand. Picasso was enormously prolific and produced thousands and thousands of prints in different techniques and large editions. Banksy has only printed 50 motives. If we count the different colourways for some of these motives, such as the Soup Cans, the total is somewhere around 130 different motives, all printed in small editions. The total supply of certified Banksy prints is relatively small if we compare it to other established artists; if we sum all of the editions made from the 130 different motives, we will arrive at approximately 10,000 signed prints and approximately 20,000 unsigned prints, which are also authentic if they have a Certificate of Authenticity.
The increasing demand comes from Banksy being perceived as the most influential artist of our time. His printed motives are among the most iconic images around and, therefore, highly coveted by a growing base of collectors. You not only get a piece of paper for your money, but you also get a part of an artistic narrative unprecedented in the art world.
One factor especially influences demand and supply: long-term collectors finally understand that they can buy a Banksy. According to initiated sources, important art foundations are now starting to buy Banksy. When long-term collectors buy on the secondary market, they not only increase demand; the pieces will “disappear” from the market, thus limiting supply further.
Banksy’s handling service Pest Control Office has created one of the most efficient certification systems in the art world. They have also been active in the second-hand market as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of Banksy’s certified prints and unique studio work. (This has nothing to do with street art pieces.)
Now it seems like they are taking it to a new level with the announced launch of http://www.Bbay.shop. It is an interesting development for the booming secondary market in Banksy artwork and will hopefully set a new standard for transparency in the art market.
Banksy opened his much-anticipated store on 16 October. Among the products on sale are two interesting prints, a three-frame version of Loveis in the Air and Banksquiat, a homage to Jean Michel Basquiat. These are Banksy’s first regular print releases since 2010.
In Banksy’s own words: “I’m opening a shop. It’s called Gross Domestic Product™. It sells art, homewares and disappointment.”
“POW was started in 2003 by a loose collection of artists, graffiti writers and illustrators who were shunned by the controlling influencers of the day – so we set about producing and distributing our own art. The invention of the internet and the cardboard tube enabled us to circumvent the centuries-old grip of the established art world and we laid waste to their cronyism and vested interests and good taste. We delivered a new generation of art directly into people’s homes – well, the Royal Mail did most of it.
Somewhere along the way we mastered our craft and many POW prints have become benchmarks within the industry. We pioneered the use of foil block, patterned embossing and we were the first in the industry to use non-solvent based inks. We never put anything down the drain except effort. Throughout it all POW has remained an independent artist-run operation, hosting landmark exhibitions and pioneering the concept of a shit pop-up shop long before it became fashionable.
However, inevitably disaster struck – and many of our artists became successful. Street Art was welcomed into mainstream culture with a benign shrug and the art we produced became another tradeable commodity. Despite attempts at price fixing regrettably some POW prints have become worth tens of thousands of pounds. Either unable or unwilling to become part of the art market we once so self-righteously denounced – we called it quits. Here are some of the things we made…”
A month before, POW released a signed version of the Sales End print. The first version was sold at the Barely Legal exhibition in 2006 as part of the Barely Legal print set, six prints in unsigned editions of 100: Sale Ends, Trolleys, Festival, Grannies, Applause, and Morons.
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Also, in the end of December 2017, a new section labeled “Theme Park” was introduced on banksy.co.uk. It has some nice pictures of Dismaland from the book “Are we there yet?”, a photojournalistic document on Dismaland and its aftermath by photographer Barry Cawston.
Due to legal issues, Banksy announced this morning on www.banksy.co.uk that he is cancelling the promotion of a free print for voting against the Tories.
On 3 June, Banksy announced a new print release, a version of the iconic Girl with Balloon, only available to registered voters in the Bristol area who vote against the Conservative party. It would have been Banksy’s first regular print release since Choose Your Weapon in 2010.
Banksy unofficial 