Radar Rat, 2004
Edition: 75 signed hand-finished
Radar Rat, also known as Sonic Rat, is one of the most coveted works by Banksy due to its small edition size and because each print is signed and hand-finished by the artist himself, some in orange. Radar Rat is shown standing on its hind legs, wearing headphones and holding a tape recorder in one hand and a sonic radar in the other. Behind him is a hand-painted red spiral. He appears to be listening intently to the world around him, in what seems to be a comment on the ever-increasing presence of surveillance equipment in cities such as London.
Radar Rat can also be seen on a few walls in the streets of London, including King’s Road, and a few Banksy originals, as well as on the cover of Dirty Funker’s Future album in 2008.
The work was originally known as ‘Sonic Rat’ and was first released by Banksy’s print publisher Pictures on Walls (POW) at the artist’s Santa’s Ghetto pop-up shop for GBP 300. Radar Rat has also made it to the cover of various vinyl for Dirty Funker.
DESCRIPTION
Radar Rat
Year: 2004
Medium: Stencil spray-paint and screen-print in colors on wove paper
Size: 36×36 cm (14 3/16 x 14 3/16 inches)
Publisher: Pictures on Walls
Editions
Edition: 75 signed
All hand-finished by the artist
Some in Red, Some in Orange
AUCTION RESULTS
Updated as of 30 June 2022
Radar Rat is a very rare print, very few of them have been sold at public auction.
It sold at Sotheby’s online on 26 April 2022 for GBP 163,800 (USD 206,388)
An unsigned, hand-finished version sold at Forum Auctions on 13 July 2021 for GBP 147,400 (USD 206,630). Before then, it had last sold at Digard Auction on 1 June 2015 for just over USD 50,000.
Radar Rat, 2004
Hand-Finished with red spray-paint
Signed and dated in pencil, lower right
Numbered 46/75 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s online, 26 April 2022
GBP 163,800 / USD 206,388
Radar Rat (unsigned), 2004
Numbered XX/25 in pencil, lower right
Forum Auctions, 13 July 2021
GBP 147,400 / USD 206,630
Radar Rat, 2004
Signed and dated in pencil, lower right
Numbered 3/75 with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s London, 19 September 2012
GBP 15,000 / USD 24,230
