Heavy Weaponry

Medium: Spray-paint on canvas
Year: 2003
Dimensions: 25.5 x 30.4 cm (10×12 inches)
Edition: 25

Some with the elephant walking to the right, others walking to the left

Stenciled ‘BANKSY’ on the overturn edge
Dated 2003 and numbered  on the stretcher

Heavy Weaponry is a striking example of Banksy’s satirical and socially-charged compositions. Rendered in his instantly-recognizable hand-cut stencil technique, the work depicts an elephant charging across the picture plane with a missile strapped to its back.  Capturing the anti-war sentiment that has fueled some of Banksy’s best-known images, the motif of the armed elephant has recurred throughout his practice. First depicted in spray paint on fiberboard in 1998—against a colorful barcode labelled ‘Heavy Weaponry’—it was reimagined on canvas in 2000, spray-painted onto weathered iron in 2001, and depicted over another work, titled Radar Rat, on cardboard in 2002.

With its elephant protagonist seemingly resigned to its fate, Heavy Weaponry condemns humankind’s propensity for destruction. In its bold, absurdist depiction of military drudgery, the work demonstrates the witty social and political commentary through which Banksy has sought to condemn mass violence. His seminal Love Is In The Air, painted on the West Bank barrier wall, railed against the need for conflict; so too did images such as ‘Bomb Hugger’ and Happy Choppers, which became poster images for protests against military action in the Middle East in 2003. In Heavy Weaponry, as in many of his other works, Banksy uses an animal as a stand-in for the people, here drawing a parallel between the ‘heaviness’ of the elephant and the gigantic missile strapped to its back. Elsewhere, works such as Monkey Detonator and Laugh Now had used monkeys to lampoon abuses of power, humorously satirizing our disregard for nature and the world around us. This rebellious, anti-establishment ethos permeates the present work, offering a powerful riposte to modern warfare.

“As soon as I cut my first stencil, I could feel the power there’, he has said. ‘I also like the political edge. All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They’ve been used to start revolutions and to stop wars.”

From his early days in Bristol, to his rise to fame in London and his subsequent travels across the globe, Banksy has long relied upon the power of stencils. He was drawn to the medium after observing the lettering on the underside of a rubbish truck whilst hiding from the police in his teens. Raw and immediate, the technique would infuse his works with a bold, anarchic edge, underscoring the apparent lawlessness of his graffiti practice. Married to Banksy’s method is his ethos that art belongs to the people: that by mirroring the concerns of the masses, it has power to transform the world. This sentiment is brought to bear upon Heavy Weaponry, its iconographic image alive with symbolic and political power.

Source: Christie’s

Auction Results

Heavy Weaponry, 2004

Christie’s New-York: 27 February 2025
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 119,700

BANKSY (B. 1985), Heavy Weaponry | Christie’s

REPEAT SALE

Sotheby’s New-York: 4 October 2018
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 137,500

(#10) BANKSY | Heavy Weaponry (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (B. 1985)
Heavy Weaponry, 2004
Spray paint on canvas
30.5 x 30.5 cm (12×12 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name ‘Banksy’ (on the overlap)
Numbered ‘10⁄25’ (on the stretcher)

Provenance
Lazarides Gallery, London
Private collection, West Coast
The Collection of Marsha and Robin Williams, 2010
Their sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 4 October 2018, lot 10
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Heavy Weaponry, 2004

Christie’s London: 1 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 250,000
GBP 275,000 / USD 378,175

BANKSY (B. 1974), Heavy Weaponry | Christie’s (christies.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Heavy Weaponry, 2004
Spray paint on canvas
30.5 x 30.5 x 4 cm
Stenciled with the BANKSY tag in red on the overlap
Numbered 12/25 on the stretcher

Provenance
Bonham’s London, 24 October 2007, lot 106
With Lazarides Inc., London
Private Collection

HEAVY WEAPONRY, 2003

Sotheby’s London: 22 October 2020
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 315,000 / USD 412,485

BANKSY | HEAVY WEAPONRY | Contemporary Art Day Auction | 2020 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (b. 1975)
HEAVY WEAPONRY, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
25.5 x 30.4 cm (10×12 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the overturn edge
Dated 2003 and numbered 7/25 on the stretcher

Provenance
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the artist)
Private Collection, United Kingdom
Acquired from the above by the present owner in December 2007

HEAVY WEAPONRY, 2003

Sotheby’s London: 19 September 2019
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 125,000 / USD 153,545

BANKSY | HEAVY WEAPONRY | Banksy | Online | 2019 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (b.1974)
HEAVY WEAPONRY, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
25.5 x 30.4 cm (10×12 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the overlap
Numbered 4/25 on the stretcher

Heavy Weaponry, 2004

Sotheby’s New-York: 4 October 2018
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 137,500

(#10) BANKSY | Heavy Weaponry (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Heavy Weaponry, 2004
Spray paint on canvas
30.5 x 30.5 cm (12×12 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the right overturn
Numbered 10/25 on the stretcher
This work is number 10 from an edition of 25

Provenance
Lazarides Gallery, London
Private Collection, West Coast
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010

Heavy Weaponry, 2003

Phillips London: 15 October 2015
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 37,500 / USD 57,990

Banksy – Contemporary Art Day Sale Lot 207 October 2015 | Phillips

Heavy Weaponry, 2004

Bonhams London: 2 July 2014
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 52,500 / USD 90,103

Bonhams : Banksy (b. 1975) Heavy Weaponry 2004

Heavy Weaponry, 2004

Bonhams Los Angeles: 29 October 2012
Estimated: USD 35,000 – 45,000
USD 47,500

Bonhams : Banksy (British, born 1975) Heavy Weaponry

Heavy Weaponry, 2004