Rat with Roller on Spot Painting, 2009

Exhibited
Banksy vs. Bristol Museum, Bristol Museum, Bristol, 2009

Catalogue Note

With Rat with Roller on Spot Painting, Banksy stages a playful confrontation between two of the most influential figures in contemporary British art. One of his signature rats, armed with a paint roller and bucket, methodically covers a canvas decorated with Damien Hirst’s instantly recognizable multicoloured spots. The image is simple, yet it opens a wider discussion about originality, authorship and the cyclical nature of artistic movements.

The reference to Hirst is unmistakable. Since the late 1980s, the Spot Paintings have become one of the defining images of the Young British Artists, celebrated for their serial production and conceptual rigor. Rather than parodying the motif, Banksy treats it as a familiar visual language, one immediately recognizable to a contemporary audience. The rat does not attack the painting in anger; it calmly paints over it, as though preparing the surface for something new.

This distinction is significant. Throughout his career, Banksy has repeatedly questioned the authority of established artistic conventions without dismissing the artists themselves. Here, the roller becomes a metaphor for renewal rather than destruction. Every generation of artists inherits the visual language of the previous one before attempting to redefine it. The rat is not erasing Hirst’s achievement so much as suggesting that contemporary art is a continuous process of revision, where even the most celebrated icons eventually become the background against which new ideas emerge.

The choice of the rat further reinforces this interpretation. Banksy’s rats have long represented outsiders—small, resilient figures capable of surviving in environments dominated by more powerful forces. By assigning this task to one of his most enduring characters, Banksy presents himself as both participant and challenger within the contemporary art world. The rat does not occupy the museum through invitation but through quiet persistence.

Created for Banksy vs. Bristol Museum in 2009, the work reflects Banksy’s growing willingness to engage directly with the history of contemporary art. Like Morons, Boring and The Key To Making Great Art Is All In The Composition, it examines the mechanisms through which artistic reputations are established while acknowledging that every artistic revolution eventually becomes part of the establishment it once opposed. Ultimately, Rat with Roller on Spot Painting is less about rivalry than succession. Banksy reminds us that art history is never static. Every masterpiece, every movement and every visual language ultimately becomes the canvas upon which the next generation chooses to paint.