Banksy™ Cushions
Are you fed up with soft furnishings trying to express feelings on your behalf?
Then let these stenciled cushions make that clear.
They come as pair but might not match
as they’re painted on what’s gets found in the charity shop.
Edition: 50
Release Price: GBP 150 the pair
Comes as a set of two.
With Cushions, Banksy acknowledges a genre embraced by many homeware brands, and more generally a trend towards positive and inspirational messages. Some also refer the genre as to some dictatorship of the “Feel Good” aspiration.
One cushion states, “Life’s too short” while the other reads, “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 sometimes imposed by homewares brands and Instagram influencers. In that world, any of us can sometimes feel inadequate when faced with our own negative feelings. In a world where structural inequality and austerity prevents many from “chasing their dreams,” it is natural to feel animosity towards cushions encouraging people that “the only limit is your imagination.”
Each pair of cushions is unique, as they are “upcycled” from “what gets found in the charity shop.”
In fact, Cushions have a stronger symbolism for Banksy. Indeed, many of the most iconic Banksy’s artworks, such as Girl with Balloon, or Flower Thrower, have already been made into various mugs, cushions, or t-shirts by companies who took advantage of the artist’s lack of trademark to produce soft furnishings, allowing fans to buy their own little bit of subversive street art. 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. With this work and the whole GDP project, Banksy proved once again to be the kind of artist that toes the line between accessibility and commercialization.
