EVERY TIME I MAKE LOVE TO YOU I THINK OF SOMEONE ELSE, 2002

Exhibited

• Existencilism, 33 1/3 Gallery, Los Angeles, July 19 – August 18, 2002

Provenance

• 33 1/3 Gallery, Los Angeles

Auction History

Catalogue Note

Among Banksy’s earliest anti-war images, Everytime I Make Love to You I Think of Someone Else stands apart for its extraordinary use of irony. Rather than depicting conflict directly, the artist anthropomorphizes two armored military vehicles, transforming them into lovers locked in an absurd embrace before a dripping pink heart. The result is simultaneously comic and deeply unsettling: machines designed to destroy human life become participants in an awkward, almost affectionate encounter.

The deliberately sentimental title is the key to the work. It evokes emotional betrayal rather than physical violence, suggesting that modern warfare resembles a dysfunctional relationship sustained not by conviction but by habit, convenience, and mutual self-interest. The two vehicles appear united, yet emotionally absent. Their intimacy is mechanical, devoid of affection, hinting that political alliances are often driven less by shared ideals than by strategic calculation. Banksy invites us to ask whether nations go to war for the reasons they proclaim, or for motives they would rather leave unspoken.

Executed in 2002, as the United States and the United Kingdom were preparing for the invasion of Iraq, the painting belongs to a remarkable body of early works in which Banksy repeatedly challenged the language of militarism. Like Love Is In The Air, CND Soldiers, Bomb Hugger, and Happy Chopper, it replaces the visual vocabulary of aggression with symbols traditionally associated with tenderness and innocence. Flowers, hearts, embraces, and now even romance become unexpected instruments of political critique. Violence is never glorified; it is ridiculed by placing it in situations where it appears emotionally and morally absurd.

The oversized pink heart dominates the composition. Far from serving as a symbol of genuine love, it functions almost like a theatrical backdrop or advertising logo, exposing the sentimental narratives through which governments often attempt to package conflict. The dripping paint reinforces this ambiguity. It may suggest fresh graffiti, but equally recalls bleeding wounds, reminding the viewer that behind every romanticized justification for war lies an irreversible human cost.

Created for Existencilism, Banksy’s landmark 2002 exhibition in Los Angeles, this canvas belongs to the small group of paintings that established many of the themes that would define his career. Its combination of minimal composition, instantly recognizable imagery, dark humor, and layered political commentary demonstrates the remarkable economy that characterizes Banksy’s finest work. Few artists are capable of compressing an entire geopolitical argument into two armored vehicles and a pink heart.

Ultimately, Everytime I Make Love to You I Think of Someone Else is not simply an anti-war painting. It is a meditation on hypocrisy. By reducing international politics to the language of a failed romance, Banksy suggests that behind the public rhetoric of honor, freedom, and security often lie private ambitions, hidden agendas, and relationships of convenience. It is this ability to expose uncomfortable truths through laughter that transformed Banksy from an anonymous street artist into one of the defining political image-makers of the twenty-first century.

A very close variation sold at auction at Christie’s in London on 21 October 2008.

BANKSY Every Time I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else, 2002