BANKSY
Insane Clown, 2001
Spray-paint stencil on HESSIAN
252 x 193.5 cm (99 1/4 x 76 1/8 inches)
Provenance
Lazarides Gallery, London
Auction History
Phillips New-York: 12 November 2009
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
Price realized: USD 386,500
In Insane Clown, Banksy fuses dark humor and social critique into a single haunting figure: a clown in full jesters’ regalia, brandishing two handguns with manic glee. Rendered in Banksy’s signature stenciled black on a stark beige background, the image is both absurd and chilling. The clown, a symbol of innocent entertainment, is reimagined as an agent of chaos: part Joker, part street soldier, posing questions about who society allows to wield power and violence.
Every time I hear the word Culture, I release the safety catch on my 9 mm
This early 2000s work channels the aesthetics of punk rebellion while nodding to the rise of media-sensationalized violence. Like a court jester turned vigilante, the clown becomes a mirror for societal dysfunction: smiling while pulling the trigger. It’s Banksy’s take on the modern fool—not harmless, but dangerously unchecked. As with much of his work, it laughs with you, then at you.
