BANKSY
Chopper, 2002
Acrylic and spray paint on cardboard
84.8 x 170 cm (33 ½ x 66 ⅞ inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name
Provenance
Private Collection, Japan
Private Collection, Japan
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2003
Auction History
Sotheby’s London: 3 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
Price realized: GBP 327,600
Chopper | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s
With Chopper, Banksy crashes militarism into absurdity, quite literally. A fleet of menacing black helicopters, stenciled with mechanical precision, dominates the sky. But the lead chopper wears a bright yellow bow, transforming a symbol of death into something almost comical, even ridiculous. The juxtaposition is classic Banksy: the machinery of war softened by an accessory of innocence. The bow, typically associated with childhood, femininity, or celebration, becomes a mocking decoration on a flying weapon. The message is unmistakable: no matter how you dress it up, violence remains violence.
Executed originally in 2002 on cardboard, this version of Happy Choppers underscores Banksy’s ethos of using humble materials to deliver devastating critiques. The background, with visible folds and water stains, reinforces the rawness of the message and the anti-establishment nature of the work.
Whether interpreted as a critique of military glamorization, propaganda, or Western interventionism, Happy Choppers remains a searing visual metaphor for the way governments often camouflage destruction with a smile: a pink ribbon on a guided missile.
