‘In 1998, a young Chinese student’s sacrifice taught a valuable lesson to the world. A lesson Banksy has tried to cheapen with glib humor and crass opportunism but that still remains very potent. God Bless That Man.’
‘We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles.
In the meantime, we should all go shopping to console ourselves.’
Banksy pays tribute to the ones who dare to stand up to authority and aims pointed criticism to the capitalism and the consumerism which he identifies as the main culprit for violence and warfare.
The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstration held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing during 1989. Military troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military’s advance into Tiananmen Square in what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The protests started on April 15 and were forcibly suppressed on June 4 when the government declared martial law and sent the People’s Liberation Army to occupy parts of central Beijing. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.
Tank Man: Behind Jeff Widener’s Photo of Tianamen Square
Jeff Widener, a photographer with the Associated Press, was focusing his camera on a line of tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square when out of the blue came this man in a white shirt and dark trousers, carrying what appeared to be shopping bags. At first, Widener was annoyed by the man entering his shot, he thought the man was going to mess up the composition of his frame. Little did he know that he was about to make one of the most iconic photos in history.
DESCRIPTION
Golf Sale
Year: 2003
Medium: Screen-print in black on wove paper
Size: 35×50 cm (13 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches)
Publisher: Pictures on Walls
Editions
AUCTION RESULTS
Updated as of 15 March 2023
1. Golf Sale (unsigned)
Golf Sale (unsigned), 2003
Numbered 205/750 in pencil, lower right
Bonhams London: 7 December 2022
GBP 17,850 / USD 21,765
Golf Sale (unsigned), 2003
Numbered 476/750 in pencil, stamped with the BANKSY tag in red ink, lower right
Sotheby’s online: 17 August 2022
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 30,240 / USD 36,288
Stamped with the Banksy tag in red ink, lower right
GBP 25,200 / USD 31,752
Stamped with the Banksy tag in red ink, lower right
GBP 35,280 / USD 49,039
GBP 37,800 / USD 52,542
2. Golf Sale (signed)
GBP 37,500 / USD 50,250
GBP 50,250 / USD 69,503
