Banksy

Lazarides Gallery, London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Banksy, Wall and Piece, London 2006, pp. 88-9, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the background is cooler and contains fewer yellow undertones in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is light wear and handling in places to the the extreme outer edges and corner tips. Close inspection reveals a small number of faint and unobtrusive media accretions scattered in a few isolated places; notably towards the centre of the first panel, as seen in the online catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A cartoon made up of six consecutive panels, Masons is an astoundingly rare, early and unusual masterpiece by the ever-elusive street artist Banksy. Figures in simple clothing erect and carve a monolith in the shape of a CCTV post, in front of which the community prostrates worship in the sixth and final panel. The title of the work may refer to Masonic organizations, and thus to the Freemasons’ belief in a Supreme Being, or Grand Architect of the Universe. This correlation is further enhanced in Masons by the carving of the stone, which indirectly refers not only to Freemasonry’s medieval ancestor, Stonemasonry, but also to other faiths, such as ancient megalithic worships. Using the comical anachronism of a lithic CCTVC device as a pagan worship vessel, Masons challenges society’s blind acceptance of contemporary ‘crime-prevention’ and visibility systems. These, just as Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, the infamous eighteenth century ‘discipline through surveillance’ prison observation model, ultimately make their recipients feel more unsafe and constantly watched.

Banksy’s use of a sequential strategy to comment on contemporary social and political issues also brings to mind the work of eighteenth eentury satirists, such as William Hogarth and his suite of eight paintings, A Rake’s Progress. Just like Hogarth, Banksy frequently uses humorous narratives which are concluded with a disturbing moral – however, he very rarely does so in such a literal manner, by using the genre of the cartoon. One of the only other recorded examples of Banksy’s extremely scarce use of this genre is Simple Intelligence Testing, which commanded the second highest price at auction for a work by Banksy, and sold for over six times its low estimate.

A superb example of the artist’s long-standing engagement with anti-establishment subject-matter, and uncannily recognisable within his extraordinary diverse corpus, Masons sits comfortably at the apex of Banksy’s prodigiously subversive and challenging oeuvre.