FLYING COPPER (BLUE)
2003
About This Work
In *FLYING COPPER (BLUE)*, Banksy distils the frictions of authority and vulnerability into a crisply executed stencil composition. A uniformed police officer, rendered with graphic economy and sharp tonal contrasts, is improbably lifted by delicate, balloon-like forms—an image that reads at once as satire, allegory, and visual punchline. The cool blue ground amplifies the work’s emotional temperature: restrained, clinical, and unmistakably contemporary, it throws the figure into heightened relief while lending the scene an atmospheric, urban hush. Banksy’s mastery lies in the tension between immaculate technique and subversive content, using the street’s visual language to interrogate power, surveillance, and the manufactured optics of control. Iconic and instantly legible, the work exemplifies his ability to turn public symbols into enduring cultural critique.
About the Artist
Perhaps the most famous figure in street art working today, Banksy is known for urban interventions that demonstrate irreverent wit and a biting political edge. Enhancing his mystique by maintaining an anonymous identity, the artist has modified street signs, illegally printed his own currency, and ...
View Full Artist Profile →Zebra One Gallery
Contemporary Art • Hampstead, London
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