Oh My God, 2006
Spray-paint and emulsion on found metal
129.5 x 91.5 cm (51×36 inches)
Unique
Tagged, signed and dated “21 July 2006” on the reverse
Bonhams London: 22 October 2020
GBP 855,062 / USD 1,122,369

 Exhibited
Barely Legal, Los Angeles, 2006

 

 

One of the definitive artists of the new millennium, Banksy has left an indelible mark on the walls of art history as a true maverick of the genre. From his emergence as a figurehead of street art, Banksy has risen to the heights of global superstardom through a course of breakthrough exhibitions, political activism, and artistic showmanship.

Oh My God was first displayed at Banksy’s most significant exhibition, Barely Legal, his debut show in the United States in Los Angeles in 2006. Irreverent, playful, and littered with art historical and cultural allusions, Oh My God is a work in Banksy’s quintessential stenciling style on a rare metal support, demonstrating all the panache and appeal that places this amongst his most collectible works.

Painted on a found piece of metal, the present work reflects the gritty, urban environment that Banksy was borne of – a painting true to his roots as a street artist and anti-establishment renegade.

In a typical revisionist twist on the classical portrait, the iconography of the image feels remarkably familiar, whose sitter’s tilted glance conjures the timeless pose of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earing (1665) or Pablo Picasso’s compelling portraits of Dora Maar produced at the end of the 1930s. Such comparisons have long since become entirely apt for the anonymous British artist, whose career has defined the cultural landscape of the last two decades and become synonymous with contemporary art criticism and political discourse in the twenty-first century.

Johannes Wermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring

oil on canvas, 1665

Known for his sardonic wit and pointed irony, Banksy has never shied away from a searing commentary of the art world that has embraced him. In the present work this is brought to the fore with a piquant and wry humor. Feigning interest or enthusiasm for the role of the artist, Banksy’s depiction of his subject pokes fun at the superficiality of the cultural dilettante and part-time art lover; it is a picture of the artists perspective of the patent triviality of the “in” crowd who laud him. Like all great artists, Banksy’s aloofness and ardent refusal to heed his now-celebrity status has only cemented his legacy as a true outlier and hero to the public who view him in the vein of Robin Hood, undermining and ridiculing the established order of contemporary art. He is also the embodiment of that peculiarly British, self-effacing sense of humor whereby he mocks the faux seriousness of artists, their overweening narcissism and therefore his own. Here is the essence of his work: he is polemic, scathing and satiric and everyone is a possible target, including himself. His technique remains singular and immediately identifiable, and Oh My God is amongst those most rare of Banksy works whose subject appears completely unique.

 

Source: Bonhams