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Festival, 2006

BY

Festival, 2006
Editions: 150 signed, 500 unsigned (100 printed)

Festival, also known as Destroy Capitalism, depicts a group of people at a music festival queuing up to buy t-shirts. They are clearly portrayed as punks, goths and hippies attending some sort of music festival with clothes, haircuts and attitudes representative of those subcultures. They represent what society might consider as anti-capitalists or “outsiders.” However, they queue up to buy a $30 t-shirt, just like the rest of society – illustrating the power that capitalism holds even for its most fervent opponents.

Festival (Brown AP), 2006
Edition: 33 signed AP
Festival can also be read as an ironic comment on how independent and anti-globalization events, like alternative music festivals, for example, have now become hypocritical versions of themselves – contradicting the very thing their attendees cry out against. The irony of the work unintentionally reached its climax in 2013, however, when Walmart – the American multinational retail corporation which is the very embodiment of capitalism – sold a series of Festival at a markup through their online marketplace (without asking Banksy for permission to use the imagery, to boot).

RELEASE HISTORY

Festival is one of six prints belonging to the Barely Legal Print Set, which also includes Grannies, Trolleys, Morons, Applause, and Sale Ends. Festival was originally released at Barely Legal as an edition of 100 unsigned prints, printed by Modern Multiples, that sold for $500 a piece.
The remaining 400 prints were due to be released by Pictures on Walls, but this edition never saw the light of day. As a consequence, Festival is numbered /500.
Festival original, exhibited at Barely Legal, Los Angeles, 2006

DESCRIPTION

Festival, Destroy Capitalism

Year: 2006
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Arches wove paper
Size: 56×76 cm (22×30 inches)
Publisher: Modern Multiples and Pictures on Walls

Editions

LA Edition: 100 unsigned, 6 signed Printer’s Proofs (PP)
Signed Edition: 150 signed
Artist’s Proof Editions
Brown AP: 33 signed AP
Color AP: 17 signed AP in different color combinations

AUCTION RESULTS

 Updated as of 15 March 2023

1. Festival (unsigned)

Festival (Destroy Capitalism) (LA Edition), 2006
Numbered 76/500 in pencil, lower right
Christie’s online: 14 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 15,120 / USD 18,598

Festival (LA Edition), 2006
Numbered 113/500 in pencil, lower right
Bonhams London: 21 September 2022
GBP 14,025 / USD 15,890

Festival (unsigned), 2006
Numbered 43/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Phillips London: 15 June 2022
GBP 27,720 / USD 30,996

Festival (LA Edition), 2006
Numbered 62/500 in pencil, lower right
Sotheby’s online: 26 April 2022
GBP 32,760 / USD 41,278
Festival (unsigned), 2006
Numbered in pencil XXX/500
Tate Ward Auctions: 24 March 2021
GBP 45,000 / USD 62,550

2. Festival (signed)

Festival (Color AP), 2006
Signed and inscribed AP9 in pencil, lower left
One of 17 artist’s proofs in a unique color combination
Sotheby’s online: 18 March 2021
GBP 126,000 / USD 175,140
Festival (Brown AP), 2006
Signed and Numbered from an edition of 33 APs
Tate Ward Auctions: 24 June 2020
GBP 50,920 / USD 67,214

Gallery

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