Banksy’s Subject To Availability artwork is set to auction for Christie‘s ’20th Century’ sale in June.
This artwork, released in 2009, is a modification of an 1890 oil painting of Mount Rainier National Park by Albert Bierstadt, which represents a beautiful and peaceful landscape of a snow-covered mountain. Banksy just added an asterisk, in the right corner with the note: “Subject to availability for a limited period only”, as you can notice on the picture above.
This note highlights the danger of climate change by noticing that this landscape will disappear, and will not be available forever, due to global warming and human-induced pollution. The street artist is well-known for his smart and offensive artworks that sometimes are implicit and minimalist, but really effective, as this one is.
“Banksy’s witty dialogue with the art historical canon brings the painting sharply into the current context of the global climate crisis”, stated Katharine Arnold, Christie’s co-head of postwar and contemporary art.
The artwork that was a part of the legendary Banksy exhibition at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is expected to fetch between £3 million and £5 million at Christie‘s sale in London on June 30. Last year, a Banksy parody of a Monet painting was sold for £7.5 millions at an auction, we can therefore expect this sale to reach big sums.
The work is on exhibition at the Christie’s galleries until 7 May, alongside such big names in the art world as Keith Harring or Jean-Michel Basquiat.
#Peace.Love.Banksy
