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Love Is In The Air, 2003

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Love Is In The Air, 2003
Edition: 500 (50 signed)

‘If you want to say something and have people listen,
then you have to wear a mask’

Love Is In The Air, also known as Flower Thrower or LIITA, depicts a young man, dressed as a militant, wearing a backwards baseball cap and a bandana to mask the lower half of his face. He is caught in the middle of throwing a bouquet of flowers as if it were a grenade or Molotov cocktail. Despite the apparent aggression in his posture, the figure is getting ready to launch a universal symbol of love and peace as opposed to a weapon. This print exemplifies both Banksy’s formal artistic style as well as his powerful political activism, as it represents a powerful call for peace.
Banksy, Wall and Piece, 2006
Typical of Banksy’s socially charged imagery, Love Is In The Air demonstrates the artist’s sustained interest in the absurdity of war, as well as the arbitrariness that can derive from unequal power dynamics. Indeed, while the spray-painted protagonist is armed with blooming plants and nothing else, the forces surrounding him seem to operate from heavier weaponry, placing him in a position of immediate danger.
Everywhere I Look Around (Barcode Love Is In The Air), Steve Lazarides, London
The first versions of Love Is In The Air Banksy did in London are long gone. The most well-known version was executed in 2003 as a large mural in Jerusalem shortly after the construction of the West Bank Wall, a 760km wall that separates Palestine from Israel. It is also featured on the cover of Banksy‘s book Wall and Piece.
Love Is In The Air, Bethlehem, Palestine
Reminiscent of late-1960s images of students protesting the Vietnam War, Love Is In The Air shows the figure of a young man leaning back with an arm stretched outwards, as if winding up to throw something aggressively. Yet, instead of being seized in an act of violence that one would assume involves a bomb or a grenade, Banksy’s subject carries a symbol for peace and beauty — a bouquet of flowers. Extracted from a presumably chaotic and violent context and standing alone, poetically resilient in a sea of nothingness, the man is disconcertingly removed from the situation of unrest that his movements and attire suggest.
An American Young Girl confronts the American National Guard during the 1967 anti-Vietnam March
Credit Photo: Marc Riboud / Magnum Photos
Banksy realized many originals featuring this iconic stencil, selling at record prices at public auction.

Love is in the Air, 2005

Sotheby’s New-York: 12 May 2021
Estimated: USD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
USD 12,903,000

Love is in the Air | Contemporary Art Evening Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Love is in the Air, 2005
Oil and spray paint on canvas
90×90 cm (35.4 x 36.4 inches)

Love is in the Air is a quintessential Banksy painting. Instantly recognizable, the image has become synonymous with the artist’s indelible graphic style, wry humor and galvanizing political commentary. Banksy’s subject adopts the archetypal pose of civic unrest, preparing to hurl a brick or bomb towards an unseen foe.

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One of the artist’s most cherished works on canvas, further distinguished by the inclusion of hand painted flowers in oil, Love is in the Air is a work that reminds us of the injustice and inequality that exists around us, and offers a simple message of hope.  It is indisputable that this bold and declarative work helped to establish Banksy’s place in art history, cementing his reputation as a pivotal and universally heard artistic voice.

DESCRIPTION

Love Is In the Air
aka Flower Thrower, LIITA

Year: 2003
Medium: Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Size: 50×70 cm (19 3/4 x 27 1/2 inches)
Publisher: Pictures on Walls
 

Editions

Total Edition: 500 (of which 50 signed)
Artist’s Proofs: 27 signed AP

Numbering and Signature

Numbered /500 in pencil, lower right
No publisher’s blindstamp
Signed in black pen lower right (not necessarily numbered under 50)

RELEASE HISTORY


Love Is In The Air was released in 2003 as an edition of 500, out of which approximately 50 are signed (not always in order). Release prices were GBP 40 (unsigned), and GBP 80 (signed) back in 2003. 

 

Love Is In The Air is recognized as one of Banksy’s most iconic and most sought-after artworks, existing not only in the realm of fine arts but also as the graphically powerful subject of numerous commodified goods, including posters, phone covers, t-shirts and other types of merchandise all over the world.

 

AUCTION RESULTS

FOR A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF AUCTION RESULTS
PLEASE CHECK
YOU WILL ONLY FIND THE MOST RECENT AUCTION RESULTS BELOW

Banksy Early Prints (2002-2003): Value by Print

Love Is In the Air (unsigned) has already sold 3 times at auction in 2025.

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 April 2025
Estimated: USD 35,000 – 45,000
USD 48,260

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Love is in the Air (unsigned), 2003
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Numbered in pencil 74/500

SBI Art Auction: 8 March 2025
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 4,370,000 / USD 29,575

BANKSY
Love Is In The Air (unsigned), 2003
Screenprint
Numbered and inscribed “DN” on the lower right
From the edition of 500

Forum Auctions: 5 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 22,000
GBP 19,000 (Hammer)
GBP 24,930 / USD 32,130

BANKSY (b.1974)
Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower) (unsigned), 2003
Screenprint in red and black on wove paper
Numbered from the edition of 500 in pencil

Love is in The Air (signed/signed AP) sold twice at auction in 2024, at Bonhams in London, 0n 10 December 2024 for GBP 63,900 (USD 83,070), and at Phillips in London, on 11 October 2024 for GBP 82,550 (USD 107,820).

Bonhams London: 10 December 2024
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 63,900 / USD 83,070

BANKSY (British, born 1974)
Love is in the Air (signed), 2003
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in black ink and numbered ’43/500 DN’ in pencil

Phillips London: 11 October 2024
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 82,550 / USD 107,820

BANKSY
Love Is In The Air (signed), 2003
Screenprint on paper
Signed and dated ‘BANKSY 2003’ lower right
This work is outside the edition (of 500 plus 27 artist’s proofs)

 

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