Banksy
"Life´s to short to take advice from a cushion", 2019.
2019

Name: "Life´s to short to take advice from a cushion", 2019.
Brand: Banksy
Price: 70383.04 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Aerosol spray via stencil on second hand cushions. Including all paperwork from GDP plus original shipping Receipt from Pest Control to first owner. Ca 40 x 40 cm each (2) Original hand sprayed cushions. Unique from an unknown edition (the website originally stated 50 but they are impossible to get and the common opinion is less than 10). All uniques hand sprayed by Banksy. Hang Tag text: "This product has been hand sprayed by Banksy with car paint, which means it almost certainly isn´t machine washable. In fact it´s probably not very wise to hand wash it either. Each cushion set is unique and has been recorede with you as the owner." Here Banksy cleverly subverts the genre with a pair of cushions that simply state ‘Life’s too short to take advice from a cushion’. While immediately funny to the reader these also present an empathetic response to those who feel overwhelmed by the barrage of positivity hawked by homewares brands and Instagram influencers that can often make the average person feel inadequate when faced with their own negative feelings. In a world where structural inequality and austerity prevents many from ‘chasing their dreams’ it is easy to feel embittered by cushions proclaiming that ‘the only limit is your imagination’. One of the most highly sought after products in Banksy’s Gross Domestic Product shop, each pair of cushions is unique, as they are ‘upcycled’ from ‘what gets found in the charity shop’. With their tongue in cheek message they are perfectly at home in the work of Banksy whose particular brand of dark humour, which often relies on wordplay to poke fun at the state and figures of authority, has brought him many fans. At the time of the GDP launch many of Banksy’s artworks had already been made into cushions by entrepreneuring companies who took advantage of the artist’s lack of trademark to produce soft furnishings featuring his famous Girl With Balloon or Flower Thrower artworks, allowing fans to buy their own little bit of subversive street art, now neatly and cheaply commercialised. In fact the GDP shop came about as a result of one of these companies taking action to acquire the rights to the artist’s name; with this venture Banksy ensured he retained control over the line of products released with his designs and could now show the imitators to be counterfeiters.

Creator:

Banksy

Creation Year:

2019

Dimensions:

Height: 15.75 in (40 cm)Width: 15.75 in (40 cm)Depth: 5.91 in (15 cm)

Medium:

Fabric

Movement & Style:

Street Art

Period:

2010-

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Helsingør, DK

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU2578212610922

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Banksy

Of the numerous feats that Banksy has accomplished over the course of his career as an international artist, activist and filmmaker, perhaps the most astonishing is that while he is among the most famous figures in street art, he has managed to remain completely anonymous.

There is a method behind the madness, however. Banksy maintains that he chooses to conceal his identity to make a more democratic impact with his work, the themes of which include criticism of world leaders, consumerism and terrorism.

Although not much is known about Banksy — he sent a photo of himself with a paper bag on his head to Time magazine for a profile — it is believed that he was born in the city of Bristol, in southwest England, circa 1974. Wit, irreverence, dark humor and activism come together in his work, which spans graffiti, paintings, prints, sculptures and filmmaking. (His film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, which focuses on another street artist known as Mr. Brainwash, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2010 Academy Awards.)

Banksy began as a graffiti artist in his hometown in the early 1990s. He has found fame for his stenciled and spray-painted pieces, which are most often rooted in anti-war or antiestablishment messaging, appearing in cities such as London, New York and Los Angeles and for his “stunts” that are intended to subvert and provoke the art world. One particularly memorable stunt took place in 2018, when, as soon as one of his paintings sold at auction — Girl with a Balloon, which fetched an extraordinary $1.4 million — it self-destructed and proceeded to partially shred itself. Banksy even snuck into the Louvre and hung his own version of the Mona Lisa in 2006. Despite his elusive persona and commitment to bringing art to the masses, Banksy is one of the most coveted artists at auctions across the world.

And his work is undeniably impactful.

At a record-breaking auction organized by Damien Hirst, Bono and others to benefit AIDS charities in 2008, Banksy’s Keep It Spotless — a modified Hirst painting — fetched nearly $2 million. In May of 2020, Banksy donated Game Changer, a painting that honors UK healthcare workers, to Southampton General Hospital. When it went to auction in 2021, it sold for more than $23 million at Christie's in London. All proceeds went to the National Health Service.

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