Banksy Screen Print Exposures

Original screens purchased from Nick Fellows who worked at Mission Prints in Birmingham. Nick was the senior print consultant for Mission Prints before his employment ended with the company in November 2009. http://missionprint.co.uk

Mission prints were contracted by Pictures on Walls and produced many of Banksy’s most famous prints including: Have a Nice Day, Bomb Middle England, Weston-Super-Mare, Love is in the Air, HRH Queen Victoria, HMV, Bar Code Leopard, Golf Sale, Monkey Queen, Turf War, Pulp Fiction, Laugh Now, Bomb Hugger, Virgin Mary, Happy Choppers, Flying Copper, NOLA, Stop & Search, Applause and Have a Nice Day.

The last work produced by Mission prints was “Nola” released in late 2008.

Golf Sale is a reinterpretation of Jeff Widener’s iconic photograph taken in the aftermath of the Chinese military’s violent suppression of the 1989 Democracy Movement. A man stands defiantly in front of a line of tanks attempting to block their path. It is widely considered to be one of the most notable acts of non-violent intervention in history. Banksy recreates the scene in black and white, this time, the man is holding a sign reading “GOLF SALE” in the style of the placards often seen around London’s Oxford Street.
‘We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles.
In the meantime, we should all go shopping to console ourselves.’

Nick Fellows:

"One of the major concerns was retaining the diffused off-spray that occurs with all stencil work, and is synonymous with the media. Through various experiments and mathematics, we were able to continue this working relationship for 3 different series of his first prints and also stickers, clothing abd identity for Santas Ghetto, to which Chu´s artwork was also contributed in 2003.

A short-list of the Banksy artwork produced under our supervision:

Have a Nice Day
Bomb Middle England
Weston-Super Mare
Love is in the Air
HRH Queen Victoria
HMV
Bar Code Leopard
Golf Sale
Monkey Queen
Turf War
Pulp Fiction
Laugh Now
Bomb Hugger
Virgin Mary
Happy Choppers
Smiley Copper..."

On May 31, 2001, in the tunnel at Rivington Street in East London, Banksy's fame took off when he started his first London exhibition called ‘Banging your Head Against a Brick Wall’ The exhibition was an Illicit Outdoor Gallery Experience of graffiti, lies and deviousness.

Banksy also covered the brick walls with satirical stencils next to the entrance of the nightclub ‘Cargo,’ in what amounted to essentially a pop-up show, he described it as a retrospective of his work [9].
on on Rivington Street London, 2001

A little later he covered the wall again with another ten stencils. Speaking to a reporter from The Independent Newspaper in the UK, Banksy said that 'on the wall will be my greatest hits’. And indeed he was right. The opening was attended by a large number of guests and bore an uncanny resemblance to an art gallery opening night; albeit one in an exposed tunnel with nothing for sale

The manifesto he released in 2001 was also called ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall’ and was an instant underground success. It soon found itself in the hands of not only the graffiti and music communities, but also found readers much further afield, where Banksy’s musings and work were increasingly generating interest.

The small manifesto contained early renderings of some of the works which would later go onto define Banksy’s career like ‘Love is in the Air’ and ‘Bomb Surfing Chimp’, and would also spawn an avalanche of global merchandising opportunities for numerous unauthorised parties, whom Banksy would later unsuccessfully challenge in court. As an early statement of intent by the artist, it was an extremely articulate and mature publication and laid the first foundations in our collective recognition of Banksy as artist, activist, self-publicist, satirist, tactician and anti-establishmentarian.

"Painting pictures seems a pointless way to spend your time", Banksy once said. "Your average plumber does more for humanity than some git that makes abstract art or paints seaside views full of boats. At least graffiti has a fighting chance of meaning a little more to people. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars and generally is the voice of people who aren’t listened to. Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing.” From: ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall’ / Banksy 2001

"Well I'm frustrated by many things, but trying to get accepted by the art world isn't one of them... you do not paint graffiti in the vain hope that one day some big fat Tory will discover you and put your pictures on his wall.” From: ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall’ / Banksy 2001

The following year Banksy would return to the same venue though this time with a two week exhibition. The nightclub ‘Cargo’ itself would become a place he would return to time and again. In fact, two of his pieces can still be seen in the courtyard today.

Text by Richard Hessink.