Banksy
Di-Faced Tenner (10 GBP Note)
$5,000.00
$3,000.00
Medium: Offset Lithograph On Paper
Date: 2004
Size: 3 x 5.625 inches
Additional Details: Offset lithograph in colors on paper. £10 note Di-Faced by Banksy with a portrait of Princess Diana on the front and the motto: "I Promise to Pay the Bearer on Demand the Ultimate Price." The back features Darwin's image and the statement: "Trust No One."
From the private collection of Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s original art agent. Steve represented Banksy in his early years and brought his art into the public spotlight. The Di-faced Tenner was created for a public stunt Banksy had orchestrated that involved dropping a suitcase full of the fake currency in public, during rush hour at the Liverpool tube station in London and at the Notting Hill Carnival and Reading Festival. Later that year, an unknown amount of Tenners were also released at the exhibition preview of Santa’s Ghetto, held at Lazarides Gallery. In addition to its fascinating history as an unperformed public stunt, the Di-faced Tenner had the honor of being Banksy’s first piece of art to enter in the British Museum private collection earlier this year.
Includes an original hand signed letter of provenance from Steve Lazarides.
Art ID: G30540
Banksy is a contemporary British street artist and activist who, despite his international fame, has maintained an anonymous identity. Aimed as a form of cultural criticism, the artist often targets established social and political agendas with his witty illustrations produced with stencils and spray paint in cities such as New Orleans, New York, and Paris. “The art world is the biggest joke,” he said. “It’s a rest home of the over privileged, the pretentious, and the weak.” Although details of the artist’s life are largely unknown, it is thought that Banksy was born in Bristol, United Kingdom, c. 1974, starting his career as a graffiti artist in the city. Better Out Than In, Banksy’s month-long residency in New York during October 2013, featured a man hawking the artist’s paintings for $60 a piece outside Central Park. In 2015, Banksy opened Dismaland Bemusement Park, a temporary art exhibition that functioned as a theme park. After a 36-day run, its workers and materials were sent to the Calais migrant camp in France to build additional housing. Among the artist's most famous stunts include his shredded painting: When a painting by Banksy was sold at auction for $1.4 million in 2018, a mechanism was triggered to cause the artwork to partially destroy itself, resulting in a new piece titled Love in the Bin (2018). The ongoing question as to who Banksy is continued to reach the headlines when in 2017 Robert Del Naja, the singer of the band Massive Attack, was falsely rumored to be Banksy. The artist’s style and use of cultural appropriation has given rise to a number of other street artists, including Mr. Brainwash and Alec Monopoly. He currently lives and works in the United Kingdom.