HEART BOY, 2009

Auction History

Catalogue Note

On a dark night in Islington London, not far from Kings Cross Station, Banksy and fellow Brooklyn based collective Faile, stalked the streets looking for the right building to continue their collaboration. On that fateful night, the meeting of whitewashed brick and concrete became the site of Banksy’s seminal mural Boy with Heart.

The stencil can be found in at least three different places throughout London including Tottenham Court Road, the round-a-bout at Old Street, and on Rivington Street in Shoreditch.

Banksy posted images of these works to his own website (www.banksy.co.uk) shortly after their creation and examples of the same brush weilding boy executed by Banksy can be found documented on pages 64 and 128 of his own book Wall and Piece (UK, Century, 2006).

As a provocateur, Banksy is known for his sarcastic and irreverent style and Boy with Heart doesn’t fail to uphold this stereotype. The demolition of the building in 2009 initiated the removal and conservation of the mural, which has remained in the owner’s possession.