Riot Cop, 2004
This work is number 1 from an edition of 2
Provenance
Steve Lazarides, London
Private Collection, London
Sotheby’s, London, 19 June 2006, Lot 749
Private Collection
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 7 October 2019, Lot 511
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Auction History
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 20 April 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,800,000
Price realized: HKD 3,780,000 / USD 487,010
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,800,000
In this striking image, Banksy fuses menace with mockery to unsettling effect. A heavily armored riot police officer, armed and ready, wears the unmistakable yellow smiley face mask: a chilling collision between state violence and consumer-era cheer. The smiley, a symbol once used to sell acid house records and sugary cereal, is here grotesquely repurposed as a mask for authoritarian control.
By juxtaposing the mechanical uniformity of state power with the superficial optimism of pop iconography, Banksy exposes the paradox of modern policing: beneath the performance of order lies a sanctioned potential for violence. The cheery visage mocks the viewer as much as it conceals identity, turning the cop into a surreal mascot for repression.
Executed with Banksy’s signature stencil technique, the work echoes the aesthetics of wartime propaganda and punk poster art, placing it firmly within the visual lineage of counterculture. This piece has become one of Banksy’s most enduring images: its grim humor as potent today as when it first emerged in the early 2000s.
