
Devolved Parliament, 2009
In this respect, Banksy contributes to a long satirical tradition of anthropomorphizing animals in allegorical tales of human folly and hubris, notably the painterly tradition of Singerie. Featuring monkeys dressed as humans elaborately dressed in the fashions of the time and ‘apeing’ human behavior and social codes, Singerie visually satirized the vanity and foolishness of its target, a tradition upheld in Banksy’s 2009 Devolved Parliament where a host of chimpanzees replace Members of Parliament in a House of Commons debate.
David Teniers the Younger, The Monkey Painter, 1805, Prado, Madrid. Image: Bridgeman Images
While the placard-carrying monkey here could be read as pointed socio-political commentary on the dangerously buffoonish tactics of our ruling elite, useful reference to the 18th century trend for ‘peintre singe’ (‘monkey painter’ in French) provides a further point of reference. Used historically as a means of critiquing the pomposity of the artworld more specifically, the tradition of ‘peintre singe’ certainly resonates with Banksy’s anti-establishment position, and as a way of speaking back to graffiti’s historically maligned status.
Self-Portrait, 2000
Seen as uncivilized by Darwinian evolutionary logic, the Monkey itself proves to be something of a cipher for the anonymous guerrilla artist, underscoring graffiti’s reputation as a crude and ‘untrained’ mode of art-making in the context of cultural elitism, classism, and definitions of ‘high art’. Banksy clearly made this identification at an early stage in his career, his Self-Portrait from 2000 featuring a monkey-headed figure wielding two spray cans, a disguise picked up again in the monkey mask adopted by the artist in the 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop.
Executed in 2002, just as Banksy was transitioning from anonymous street artist to a globally recognized icon, Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge marks one of the most important chapters in Banksy’s career, and of the movement of street art from unexpected, public locations into more sanctioned spaces. Departing from the urban materials of brick walls and metal railway carriages more usually associated with graffiti, the work itself appears on canvas, one of five created by the artist using this stencil in this format and palette. Different iterations of the monkey stencil have been included in all major Banksy exhibitions, including his United States debut, Existencilism, a landmark exhibition which opened during the summer of 2002 in Los Angeles, at 33 1/3 Gallery.
Laugh Now, 2002
Phillips New-York: 12 November 2013
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 400,000
USD 485,000
Banksy – Contemporary Art Day Sale Lot 161 November 2013 | Phillips
Laugh Now, 2002
Spray-paint on painted board in three parts
107.5 x 604.5 cm (42 3/8 x 237 7/8 inches)
More than any other motif, the lineage of the Laugh Now monkeys highlight the success with which Banksy has translated the energy and invective of graffiti into more traditional art world contexts, the stencil having been famously used in a specifically commissioned context in Brighton’s Ocean Rooms nightclub in 2002. The six-meter-long commission was designed to form the backdrop of the nightclub’s bar, six of the monkeys bearing the titular slogan.
But the iconic design has its roots firmly in the tradition of street art, appearing in Banksy’s first, and now legendary, London exhibition in 2000.
Staging what the flyer invitation described as ‘an illicit outdoor gallery experience’ Banksy populated Rivington Street in London’s Shoreditch area with twelve stencils, including an iteration of the present work featuring the titular slogan. Although no murals of the work now survive, it remains an enduring image of British counterculture and the thriving street art scene in the years leading up to the millennium.


“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
Estimated: USD 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
USD 2,070,000
BANKSY
Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge, 2002
Spray-paint and emulsion on paperboard
76×102 cm (30 x 41 1/8 inches)
Signed ‘BANKSY’ (lower left)

Auction Results
Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge, 2002
Phillips London: 14 October 2022
Estimated GBP 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
GBP 1,172,000 / USD 1,324,550
Banksy – 20th Century & Contemporary… Lot 25 October 2022 | Phillips
BANKSY
Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge, 2002
Spray paint and emulsion on canvas
91×91 cm (35 7/8 x 35 7/8 inches)
This work is number 3 from an edition of 5 unique examples
Stenciled with the artist’s tag ‘BANKSY’ lower right
Signed, numbered and dated ‘BANKSY 03/05 2002’ on the stretcher
Provenance
Private Collection
Acquired from the above by the present owner
A nuanced composition, this important early iteration of the Laugh Now works has been executed in combinations of black and white spray paint against an unusual slate-grey ground using the artist’s signature stencil technique.
Laugh Now, 2002
Sotheby’s London: 13 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 400,000 – 600,000
GBP 862,000 / USD 1,180,000
Laugh Now | Contemporary Curated | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
BANKSY
Laugh Now, 2002
Spray paint on canvas
30.5 x 30.5 cm (12×12 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s signature on the overturn
Signed on the reverse
Provenance
Andipa Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010
Laugh Now, 2002
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 87,500 / USD 133,850

Laugh Now, 2002
Spray-paint on canvas
43×43 cm (16 7/8 x 16 7/8 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the right overturn edge
Signed, numbered 4/5 and dated LA 2002 on the stretcher
Provenance
33 1/3 Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, Los Angeles
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, Contemporary Art, 2 July 2008, Lot 307
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Laugh Now, 2002
Sotheby’s New-York: 14 November 2013
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 137,000
BANKSY
Laugh Now, 2002
Acrylic and spray enamel on canvas
43.2 x 43.2 cm (17×17 inches)
Signed, dated 2002 and numbered 5/5 on the stretcher
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the right lateral edge
Provenance
33 1/3 Books & Gallery Collective, Los Angeles
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2002
‘Laugh Now’, 2002
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 46,800 / USD 61,365
stencil spray paint on canvas
60×50 cm (23 5/8 x 19 11/16 inches)
Stencil signature to overlap
‘Urban Discipline’ Graffiti Art Exhibition, Hambury, Germany
Laugh Now, 2002
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 108,000 / USD 141,613

BANKSY
Laugh Now, 2002
Stencil spray-paint on canvas
76×76 cm (29 15/16 x 29 15/16 inches)
Stencil-signed “BANKSY” on the overlap
Provenance
Westbourne Studios, London.