Guantanamo Bay, 2005
Oil on canvas in artist’s frame
93×123 cm (36 1/2 x 48 1/2 inches)
Unique
Signed and dated on the reverse
Exhibited
Crude Oils, London, 2005
Barely Legal, Los Angeles, 2006
Banksy: The unauthorized retrospective, S/2 London, curated by Steve Lazarides, 2014
Guantanamo Bay depicts a kneeling man in an orange prison uniform in handcuffs with a black bag over his head on the shore of an idyllic oil painting of a seashore. This work belongs to the celebrated Crude Oils series in which, Banksy reproduces and hijacks traditional oil paintings by Old Masters, and even succeeded at smuggling them into exhibitions at major international museums such as The Louvre and the British Museum. Banksy juxtaposes the kitschy, classic style of landscape oil painting to the eerie, photorealistic figure. The title of the painting suggests the connection of the notorious American prison facility, Guantanamo Bay to the seascape portrayed in the piece.
