Flag (Gold) — Signed

About This Work

Banksy's "Flag (Gold) — Signed" exemplifies the artist's hallmark blend of satirical wit and incisive societal commentary. This screenprint on paper, part of a signed limited edition, captures the multifaceted nature of Banksy's practice as a printmaker, with its flat planes and crisp, stencilled lines that pull from his graffiti roots. Employing screenprinting allows Banksy to amplify the immediacy and accessibility of his work, translated from street walls to paper without losing its raw, confrontational edge. The gold hue of the piece is significant, imbibing the iconic flag imagery with a luxurious, perhaps ironic, shimmer that matches the artist's tendency to juxtapose the high and the low, the glamorous and the subversive. Banksy's evolution from a street graffiti artist in Bristol to a global cultural phenomenon is mirrored in the transformation of ordinary symbols like national flags into platforms for critical discourse. The choice of gold — often associated with power, prestige, and wealth — serves to question these very ideas, encouraging viewers to reflect on the illusions of grandeur embedded in nationalistic symbolism. Banksy's biography informs the reading of "Flag (Gold) — Signed" profoundly. Born around 1974 in the vibrant, subcultural hotbed of Bristol, he emerged from the city's burgeoning underground scene in the 1990s. It was here that he began as a graffiti writer with the DryBreadZ crew, and quickly honed his skills and sharpened his messages through the art of stencil. His transition to stencils—marked by his first major street work, 'The Mild Mild West' — allowed for rapid execution and minimal exposure during installations, a critical evolution for an artist operating on the margins of legality. As Banksy shifted to London in the early 2000s, his work seamlessly adapted to the urban environment, while his allegiance to social critique remained undiluted. His varied projects, from fleeting street displays to large-scale exhibitions like 'Turf War' and 'Crude Oils', explore similar themes of power dynamics and the commodification of art. This screenprint shares the same ethos, translating his stencilled street philosophy into a collectible format while maintaining its original potency. "Flag (Gold) — Signed" situates itself comfortably within Zebra One Gallery's collection, embodying both the spirit of contemporary political art and the timeless allure of iconic imagery reimagined.

About the Artist

Perhaps the most famous figure in street art working today, Banksy is known for urban interventions that demonstrate irreverent wit and a biting political edge. Enhancing his mystique by maintaining an anonymous identity, the artist has modified street signs, illegally printed his own currency, and ...

Zebra One Gallery

Contemporary Art • Hampstead, London

Established 1976 • 50 years of excellence in contemporary art • Professional authentication and provenance research