The most recent print by Banksy published by Gross Domestic Product.
A new version of the artist’s iconic stencil for Love Is In The Air as a tryptic.
Thrower (Grey), 2019
Edition: 300 signed
Thrower presents a variation of one of Banksy’s most iconic visuals entitled Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower). The work shows a man with a bandana over his face frozen in the act of throwing neither a brick nor a Molotov cocktail, but a bouquet of flowers. This image conveys a message of peace. In the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) version, the visual is split into three parts, and presented as a deconstructed tryptic.
As such, the artist is returning to the original techniques of printing, avoiding digital methods of manipulation in order to perfectly recreate the striking marks of the original design. Obviously, it refers directly to artists such as Andy Warhol, who transferred his images directly onto a screen to be reproduced, ushering in a new era for the creation, dissemination, and commodification of art.
With its classical stencil led style, the work also pays homage to Banksy’s origins as a street artist, whereby the stencil represents the quickest, most efficient way for the artist to insert his image into the urban environment without getting caught. Revisited and reconceived many times over the years by Banksy, Flower Thrower has become one of the most iconic images from the street art movement, and is a motif he revisits often in the same way he does with rats and monkeys.
The original description for the work explains that this work represents “Banksy’s first experiment with a new technique for making prints – spray the stencil onto processing film and expose the result directly onto a silk screen.” This was the original screen-printing technique used by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring – two artists whose work and careers helped shape and inspire Banksy.
DESCRIPTION
Thrower
Year: 2019
Medium: Screen-print in colors on 1500 micron board
Size: Flower (74.8x55cm), Thrower (91.8x61cm), Hand (47×37.2cm)
Publisher: Banksy, Gross Domestic Product
Editions
Total Edition: 300 signed
AUCTION STATISTICS
Thrower is sold directly through Gross Domestic Product in the primary market and comes with a commitment from the buyer not to sell at auction for three years. However, it already sold twice at auction at Tate Ward Auctions.
Thrower (Grey), 2019
Signed and numbered XXX/300
Tate Ward Auction, 24 March 2021
GBP 343,750 / USD 477,813
It was sold for the first time at Tate Ward Auctions on 17 October 2020 for GBP 237,500 (USD 313,600).
