Sunflowers from Petrol Station
Banksy’s Sunflowers from Petrol Station from the collection of the British designer Sir Paul Smith will highlight Christie’s 21st Century Art evening sale in New York on November 9. It is estimated at $12,000,000- $18,000,000. It is part of a limited group of Banksy works that belong in the realm of fine art objects as opposed to the street art editions for which he is best known. In this example, the artist presents a painterly and conceptual defacement of the Van Gogh masterpiece, Sunflowers. As well as riffing on the comedy of wilted petrol station flowers – a far cry from Van Gogh’s magnificent blooms – the title implicates the pollution of both nature and culture at the hands of big corporations.