Kissing Coppers
| Kissing Coppers | |
|---|---|
| Two male police officers kissing | |
| Artist | Banksy |
| Year | 2005 |
| Medium | Brick |
| Location | Brighton |
| Preceded by | Space Girl and Bird |
| Followed by | Untitled |
| Website | Banksy website |
Kissing Coppers is a Banksy stencil that pictures two British policemen kissing.[1] It was originally unveiled on the wall of The Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004. It gained significant attention due to Banksy's notoriety as a provocative street artist and activist.[2] Kissing Coppers has frequently been regarded as one of Banksy’s most notable works, so much so that it was selected as the most iconic British piece of art at The Other Art Fair in London.[3]
Description
Materials
Kissing Coppers is an example of stencil graffiti, which is a quick method for erecting images onto large surfaces, which for Banksy is necessary to keep his anonymity.[4] Due to the speed and ease of stencil graffiti, it is typically the message rather than the critical artistic design components that are most significant to the work.[4] Artists who practice stencil graffiti typically utilize easily recognizable figures placed in deliberate locations in a ploy to orient public attention and conversation to their intended political or social message.[4] In this way, Guido Indij has remarked that stencil graffiti is not an art form in and of itself, but rather a political technique.[4] In Kissing Coppers, as well as many other Banksy pieces, iconic figures and images are not simply displayed, but rather deconstructed and juxtaposed into an atypical context oftentimes delivering a critique of an aspect of our society.[5] In this way, graffiti has evolved tremendously from its origins of profane messages and slurs scribbled on buildings. Concerning the evolution and variation in street art, Banksy himself has remarked “Some of it will be pretty elaborate and some will just be a scrawl on a toilet wall.”[6]
Removal and sale
Due to the consistent damaging assaults to Kissing Coppers, Prince Albert Pub decided to have the piece removed and transferred to canvas, replacing it with a replica in 2008.[7] The owner of the pub, Chris Steward, ultimately made the decision to sell the original.[7] The sale occurred in February 2014 at an auction in Miami.[8] It was sold for $575,000, which was considered relatively low based on previous estimates of it selling for closer to $700,000.[8] The pub utilized the money from the sale to continue functioning in a competitive bar market.[7] There was considerable backlash resulting from the sale. Many argued against the Pub’s decision advocating that the removal of Kissing Coppers was not only a devastating loss for the vibrant community of Brighton, but also a hypocrisy to the purpose of street art.[9] Banksy, as a widely known and admired artist, could easily just create and sell his work privately for considerable sums of money, but instead he continues to pursue public street art.[9] Therefore, some scholars see it as a wrongdoing to privatize what is deliberately meant for the masses.[9]
Interpretations
See also
References
- ↑ "Banksy's Kissing Coppers – taken from a pub wall in Brighton – sells for $575,000 in US". The Guardian. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ Gompertz, Will (19 February 2014). "Banksy's Kissing Coppers sold at US auction". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ "Banksy Tops Poll As Most Iconic British Artist". www.artlyst.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Truman, Emily J. (2010). "The (in) visible artist: stencil graffiti, activist art, and the value of visual public space". Queen's Journal of Visual & Material Culture: 3.
- ↑ Stapleton, Rachel F.; Viselli, Antonio, eds. (29 August 2019). Iconoclasm. MQUP. p. 110. doi:10.2307/j.ctvnb7s6p. ISBN 978-0-7735-5838-0.
- ↑ Sammond, Nic; Creadick, Anna (2014). "The Writing on the Wall: Learning and Teaching Graffiti". Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy. 24 (1–2): 139. JSTOR 10.5325/trajincschped.24.1-2.0138.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:3 - ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Banksy mural 'Kissing Coppers' and others don't impress at auction". Los Angeles Times. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Mettler, Margaret L. (2012). "Graffiti Museum: A First Amendment Argument for Protecting Uncommissioned art on Private Property". Michigan Law Review. 111: 275.