Banksy – Smiling Copper

These policemen are examples of Banksy’s outdoor art, taken from the public locations where he originally painted them. Even though they are more than 2 metres high, their yellow smiley faces don’t give a feeling of order and authority at all. It’s as though Banksy continuously works on trying to achieve a shift in our minds, telling us that authority is not what we think it is.

Policemen feature a great deal in Banksy’s work and always in a way that tries to subvert the image we have of them as authority figures. He shows riot police dancing in a field and smelling flowers, two policemen passionately kissing each other, and a British bobby looking at us rudely and giving us the finger in a way that policemen are never supposed to do.

This last picture was Banksy’s first choice of image when he decided to make and sell prints of his work. We have one of those prints in this museum exhibition.