Banksy-painted truck fails to sell at auction
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The 17-tonne graffiti-covered truck by artist Banksy has failed to sell at auction
A 17-tonne graffiti-covered truck by artist Banksy—arguably his largest-ever work with a painted surface area of 80sqm—that went under the hammer earlier this week has failed to sell at auction.
It was offered by Bonham at its motor car auction, the Goodwood Revival sale and was estimated to fetch £1,000,000–1,500,000 ($1,300,000–2,000,000). The vehicle on offer was a Volvo FL6 box lorry entitled Turbo Zone Truck (Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be in Charge) from 2000 that was accompanied by a Certificate of Authentication issued by Pest Control, Banksy’s studio.
A Bonham’s spokesperson said it was considering a number of offers that had been made after the sale.
The history of the truck
Banksy was presented with the truck by Mojo, the co-founder of Turbozone International Circus at an open-air party on a Spanish hillside. He started the work during the party and continued to work on it for the following two weeks. The truck then spent the next years travelling throughout Europe and as far as South America. The piece is also featured in Banksy’s book, Wall and Piece.
The artwork
Turbo Zone Truck (Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be in Charge) is a fascinating record of how the artist’s calls for anarchy and social change were already central to his work back in the 2000s. The images on the truck show the silhouette of a male figure swinging a hammer towards metal cogs.
The background depicts flying monkeys and red stars with the word ‘circus’ stencilled across the back end of the truck and the reverse side of the truck shows a group of soldiers running away from a cannon. The title of the piece is stencilled above the soldier’s heads with ‘charge’ in large letters.
Ralph Taylor, Bonham’s global head of post-war & contemporary art, says, "Banksy is arguably the most important artist to have emerged since the millennium and this, his largest commercial work, represents a new high watermark of quality for works of his to appear at auction."
The work also featured in Banksy’s book Wall and Piece.
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