CIDER GENETICS, 1999

Catalogue Note

Cider Genetics depicts a bull preparing to charge, his head poised menacingly. Wrapped around him is a monochrome rainbow and underneath him is the text ‘Banksy Cider Genetics’.

This early stencil was used extensively by Banksy in and around the city of Bristol in 1999 and is believed to be the only survivor from that early ‘Cider Genetics’ street series.

The piece was sprayed onto a metal window shutter of the Cattle Market Tavern in Bristol and was recovered prior to the building’s demolition. This work comes together with the remaining part of this metal window shutter.

The Cattle Market Tavern in Bristol was built in 1910 and was located in Temple Gate behind Temple Meads train station. It was once the watering hole of choice for workers from the nearby Royal Mail Sorting Office, but after the sorting office moved to Filton, the pub’s business soon dried up and it was closed in 1997. In May 2018, Bristol City Council demolished it to help make way for the university’s new Temple Quarter campus.