Applause, 2006
Editions: 150 signed, 500 unsigned
‘Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for a print named APPLAUSE. This is taken from a Banksy sketch that frankly is a good deal more interesting than the painting ended up being. Kind of sexy, kind of smart, kind of sarcastic in a way you can afford to be if you’ve never spent six months floating in a giant tin can getting herpes defending the good name of queen and country.’
Applause shows two air traffic controllers preparing a fighter jet for take-off. This print is mostly monochromatic, except for the yellow vests, and the red sign that reads “APPLAUSE” to emphasize and accentuate the message. Perhaps, viewers should clap and celebrate as if they were attending or watching some game show.
This work illustrates the media’s attempt to often simplify and transform serious and violent themes in the news into entertainment to increase its audience. We live in a world in which images of aggression are communicated 24 hours a day through television and/or social media, dramatic events have become a form of amusement and entertainment – and this had led to the public becoming desensitized to violence.
It is also perhaps alluding to a show filmed in front of a live studio audience in which there are people that hold up signs telling people when and how they should react. Banksy suggests we are being controlled by media and told exactly when and how and how we should react to something as heavy as warfare. Banksy used a well-known image of former US President George W. Bush deplaning a military Bomber for this print.
RELEASE HISTORY
Applause is one of six prints belonging to the Barely Legal Print Set, which also includes Grannies, Morons, Trolleys, Sale Ends and Festival. Applause was originally released at Barely Legal as an edition of 100 unsigned prints, printed by Modern Multiples, that sold for $500 a piece.
In 2007, Banksy’s UK-based printer Pictures of Walls released the remaining prints from both editions: signed and unsigned.
Applause original, exhibited at Barely Legal, Los Angeles, 2006
DESCRIPTION
Applause
Year: 2006
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Arches wove paper
Size: 80×120 cm (31 1/2 x 47 1/4 inches)
Publisher: Pictures on Walls
Editions
Signed Edition: 150
Unsigned Edition: 500
AUCTION RESULTS
Updated as of 15 March 2023
1. Applause (unsigned)
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 69/500 in pencil, lower right
Sotheby’s online: 17 August 2022
Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000
GBP 37,800 / USD 45,360
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 293/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Phillips London: 15 June 2022
GBP 25,200 / USD 30,996
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 419/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s online: 26 April 2022
GBP 32,760 / USD 41,278
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 177/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s online: 17 September 2021
GBP 35,280 / USD 49,039
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 386/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s New-York: 22 April 2021
GBP 63,453 / USD 88,200
Applause (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 444/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s online: 18 March 2021
GBP 44,100 / USD 61,299
2. Applause (signed)
Applause (signed), 2006
Signed and dated in pencil, lower left
Signed and dated in pencil, lower left
Numbered 95/150 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower right
Bonhams London: 11 November 2021
GBP 52,750 / USD 71,213
Applause (signed), 2006
Signed and dated in pencil, lower left
Numbered 104/150 in pencil, with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower right
Bonhams London: 15 December 2020
GBP 87,750 / USD 117,500
