No Ball Games
No Ball Games
Year:2009
Location: Tottenham High Road and Phillip Lane, London, England
No Ball Games first appeared a an artwork on canvas in 2006 at Barely Legal, Banksy‘s seminal exhibit in Los Angeles. However, in this first version, kids are playing with a TV displaying the image of a ball… Three years later, Banksyreproduced the piece as a spray-painted mural in Tottenham in North London, on a shop wall at the junction between Tottenham High Road and Philip Lane.
No Ball Games, Barely Legal, 2006
No Ball Games portrays two children playing outside with what appear to be a sign that reads, “NO BALL GAMES” as if it were a ball itself. The image, portrayed in Banksy’s iconic stencil-style, is obviously rich with irony. The artist is making a social comment on how even basic children’s activities seem to be now controlled and regulated, thus maybe even encouraging children (and adults) to break rules.
The irony of No Ball Games critiques the rules that Banksy believes restrict society on a daily basis. Banksy mocks overprotective governments, or “nanny states,” interfering with personal choice, implying that even innocent, everyday children’s activities like playing ball outside are controlled by the state. Obviously, the children should be taken more widely as symbols for people in general, constantly under surveillance and regulation by a higher authority against the artist warns us.
In 2013, the mural in Tottenham was removed from the wall and divided into three parts and sold to benefit disadvantaged children.
Banksy released an edition of screen-prints on paper in two colorways in 2009: Green and Grey, each in an edition of 250 signed prints.
No Ball Games (Green), 2008
Edition: 250
