Silent Night, 2005
Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas
62×53 cm
Unique
Exhibited
Crude Oils, London, 2003
Literature
Banksy, Wall and Piece, 2006
Silent Night depicts a classic renaissance religious painting of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ, with a humorous addition of a pair of earphones, hence the ironic title “Silent Night”. The contrast between the element of modern technology and the classical aura of the background creates an exciting tension that is at the heart of Banksy’s tongue-in-cheek style.
The work belongs to Banksy’s widely celebrated series, the “Crude Oils”. In these hijacked traditional oil paintings, the artist inserts his iconic stencil figures into Old Masters works. In doing so, he tackles relevant issues and formulates sharp social commentary through subversive humor. They’re both a reference to ideas of the “readymade” and artists like Marcel Duchamp, as well as to ideas of Pop Art around mass production and appropriation. Banksy has successfully placed these artworks into exhibitions of respected museums and art galleries around the world, including The Louvre, The Tate, The British Museum and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
