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Flower Thrower Triptych, 2019

BY

Thrower (Grey), 2019
Edition: 300 signed
 
Thrower presents a variation of one of Banksy’s most iconic visuals entitled Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower). The work shows a man with a bandana over his face frozen in the act of throwing neither a brick nor a Molotov cocktail, but a bouquet of flowers. This image conveys a message of peace. In the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) version, the visual is split into three parts, and presented as a deconstructed tryptic.
 
As such, the artist is returning to the original techniques of printing, avoiding digital methods of manipulation in order to perfectly recreate the striking marks of the original design. Obviously, it refers directly to artists such as Andy Warhol, who transferred his images directly onto a screen to be reproduced, ushering in a new era for the creation, dissemination, and commodification of art.
With its classical stencil led style, the work also pays homage to Banksy’s origins as a street artist, whereby the stencil represents the quickest, most efficient way for the artist to insert his image into the urban environment without getting caught. Revisited and reconceived many times over the years by Banksy, Flower Thrower has become one of the most iconic images from the street art movement and is a motif he revisits often in the same way he does with rats and monkeys.
Thrower, Walled off Hotel, Bethlehem. Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
 
The original description for the work explains that this work represents “Banksy’s first experiment with a new technique for making prints – spray the stencil onto processing film and expose the result directly onto a silk screen.” This was the original screen-printing technique used by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring – two artists whose work and careers helped shape and inspire Banksy.

DESCRIPTION

Thrower

Year: 2019
Medium: Screen-print in colors on 1500-micron board
Size: Flower (74.8x55cm), Thrower (91.8x61cm), Hand (47×37.2cm)
Publishers: Banksy and Gross Domestic Product

Editions

Total Edition: 300 signed

AUCTION RESULTS

Flower Thrower was sold directly through Gross Domestic Product in the primary market starting in 2019, and initially came with a commitment from the buyer not to sell at auction for three years. Pest Control Office has now issued COAs. It has sold 4 times at auction in 2022, and twice so far in 2023.

Auction Results

Auction Highlights

Sotheby’s New-York: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 152,400

BANKSY (b.1974)
Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey), 2019
Screenprinted triptych in colors on Micron board
Signed in pencil on the left panel and numbered 283/300
Numbered on the central and right panels on the verso

Sotheby’s online: 20 April 2023
Estimated: GBP 130,000 – 180,000
GBP 190,500 / USD 237,142

Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey), 2019
Screenprinted triptych on Micron board
Signed in pencil on the left panel
Numbered 204/300, also numbered on the central and right panels verso

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 120,000 – 180,000
GBP 152,400 / USD 187,452

Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey), 2019
Signed and numbered 118/300

Christie’s online: 21 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 250,000
GBP 189,000 / USD 226,800

Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey), 2019
Signed in pencil on the left panel
Numbered 219/300, also numbered on the central and right panels verso

Phillips London: 15 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 214,200 / USD 247,687

Thrower (Grey), 2019
Signed and numbered 211/300 in pencil on the front of the Flower panel
Further numbered in pencil on the reverse of the other two panels

Sotheby’s online: 17 August 2022
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 214,200 / USD 257,040

Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey), 2019
Signed in pencil on the left panel
Numbered 243/300, also numbered on the central and right panels verso

Sotheby’s London: 26 April 2022
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 277,200

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Thrower (Grey), 2019
Screenprinted triptych on micron board
Signed in pencil on the left panel, numbered 245/300
Also numbered on the central and right panels verso

Tate Ward Auction: 24 March 2021
GBP 343,750 / USD 477,813
Thrower (Grey), 2019
Signed and numbered XXX/300
 

Gallery

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