Happy Choppers, 2002
Provenance
AndA Boutique, Tokyo
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2002
Christie’s London: 1 July 2008
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
Banksy (b. 1975) , Happy Choppers | Christie’s
At first glance, Happy Choppers is all threat: a swarm of military helicopters flying toward the viewer in ominous formation. But look closer: the lead chopper is adorned with a cheerful yellow bow, a detail that radically transforms the tone. With one small accessory, Banksy turns a symbol of power and destruction into a farce, defusing fear through ridicule.
This work first appeared as a spray-painted original on cardboard in 2002, part of Banksy’s early guerrilla work in London. The image was later adapted into a limited edition screenprint, released by Pictures on Walls in 2003. The print preserves the satirical edge of the original while giving collectors access to one of Banksy’s most biting anti-war compositions.
The bow, saccharine, innocent, even childlike, sits absurdly atop a machine of death. It mocks the sanitization of war, the way violence is often dressed up in the name of patriotism, protection, or liberation. Happy Choppers doesn’t just criticize war — it mocks the way we try to make it look respectable.
