Released in 2003 as a series of 150 signed and 750 unsigned screen prints, Golf Sale resonates with a powerful, potent force as an example of Banksy’s anti-war artwork.
Golf Sale was inspired by the famous photograph taken of a man standing in peaceful defiance in front of a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, during the protests of 1989. Reimagining the image in his recognisable stencil style, Banksy adds a placard in the protester’s hand that reads ‘Golf Sale’, a sign akin to those seen at market places or commercial epicentres. While including such a critical reference to the role of Western capitalism in global military conflicts, this image also pays tribute to protesters and activists worldwide who are willing to take a stand against the establishment. Banksy often appropriates famous existing images to put his now iconic twist on them, hereby addressing prescient ongoing political issues.
