Lost Children’s Sign from Glastonbury Festival (Sketch), 2005
Spray paint on packing paper
89×81 cm (35 x 31 7/8 inches)
Unique
Signed and dated ‘BANKSY 2005’ (lower right)
Christie’s London: 25 March 2021
GBP 525,000 / USD 719,000
Prior Auction Result
Phillips London: 3 April 2008
GBP 58,100
Lost Children’s Sign from Glastonbury Festival (Sketch) depicts a grinning policeman bending down to light up a spliff in the mouth of a young girl.
Created as part of an intervention at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival (which also included a tent lifted into the sky by helium balloons), it is an instantly recognizable example of the Banksy’s anti-establishment wit. This would not be the last time Banksy made an appearance at Glastonbury: in 2019, he created the iconic Union Jack stab-proof vest worn by rapper Stormzy for his headline performance on the Pyramid Stage.
Banksy has depicted policemen in many of his best-known images, including Snorting Copper and Kissing Coppers, which first appeared on walls in London and Brighton in 2005. In counterpart to these subverted authority figures, perhaps his most famed stencil of all is Girl with Balloon (2002), which resonates with viewers worldwide as an emblem of hope and innocence. Lost Children’s Sign from Glastonbury Festival (Sketch) juxtaposes these two central Banksy characters to create a striking satirical vision, with the long arm of the law made gleefully demonic.
