A “street art” auction in Los Angeles raised nearly $1 million after bidders splurged on some of Banksy’s most famous pieces.
Hosted by Julien AuctionsThe event featured 20 iconic pieces by street artists including Banksy, Invader and RETNA.
Thursday’s auction took place in front of a live audience in Los Angeles, but hundreds of bidders and collectors from around the world participated online.
The grand total approached a whopping $900,000, with most pieces more than double the anticipated bid estimate.
Banksy’s ‘Police Van Chimp’ London Turf War Exhibition stencil painting sold for $222,250, double its original estimate and the highest price of the night.
Pictured: Stencil painting from Banksy’s ‘Police Van Chimp’ exhibition about the London turf war, which sold for $222,250 at Thursday’s auction.
Pictured: Banksy’s ‘Gangsta Rat – Live’ stencil painting in Liverpool, which sold for $190,500 at Julien’s auction in Los Angeles.
Pictured: Banksy’s ‘Mayfair Paparazzi Rat’ London stencil painting which sold for $142,875 at Julien’s auction on Thursday.
This piece is an original spray painting on glass that was part of Banksy’s groundbreaking 2003 ‘Turf War’ exhibition held in an abandoned warehouse in London.
The next most expensive was another of Banksy’s infamous pieces: ‘Gangsta Rat Live’, a Liverpool stencil painting that sold for more than double its original estimate: $190,500.
‘Gangsta Rat Live’ is an original spray on a metal door that was executed in a British Telecom box in Liverpool, England, circa 2004.
Banksy is a street artist, political activist and pseudonymous film director based in England whose identity was unmasked in 2008, but remains the subject of speculation.
Banksy’s ‘Crazy Horse’ stencil painting in New York City sold for $162,500 and his ‘Mayfair Paparazzi Rat’ stencil painting in London sold for $142,875, more than triple the original estimate.
The next best sellers were five of Invader’s most famous international tiles, each of which grossed more than $19,000.
Pictured: Banksy’s ‘Crazy Horse’ stencil painting in New York City, which sold for $162,500 at Thursday’s auction.
Pictured: Invader’s original ‘PA-605’ Paris mosaic, which sold for $25,400 at Thursday night’s auction.
Pictured: Invader’s original Paris mosaic ‘PA5955’, which sold for $19,500 at Thursday night’s auction.
One of the pieces was Invader’s original ‘POTI-50’, which was installed in 2022 in PotosÃ, Bolivia, a city 4,000 meters above sea level to celebrate its 4,000th mosaic. It sold for $29,250 after being estimated at just $6,000.
Banksy’s identity was one of the world’s best-kept secrets until his name was revealed in 2008, but that hasn’t stopped people from speculating.
The street artist, whose career began in the ’90s, is known to millions of people thanks to dozens of iconic works of art appearing in unexpected places around the world, many of which sold for millions.
For years, his identity has been a hot topic, with names like Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack and Jamie Hewlett, founder of Gorillaz, doing the rounds.
Public schoolboy Robin Gunningham was unmasked as Banksy by the Mail On Sunday in 2008 after an investigation into his past.
Regardless of who owns it, Banksy’s works are hot commodities on the art market.
In 2021, his work ‘Love is in the Bin’ was bought for over £18 million (around $23,000) and increased in value after a shredder hidden in its frame cut it into pieces moments after it was sold for the first time in 2018.
The work, formerly known as ‘The Girl with the Balloon’, was just one of more than a dozen Banksy creations that sold for more than £2 million ($2.5 million).