Banksy (British, b. 1974), "Abe Lincoln", 2008, stencil spray paint on cardboard, initialed and inscribed lower right, 36 in. x 24 in, unframed; accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist.
Note: Banksy is a contemporary street artist who has developed a distinctive style of graffiti art that combines appropriated imagery from a variety of sources and media with social commentary. He has executed various murals on public buildings in locations as diverse as London, Melbourne and New Orleans. "Banksy's work polarizes opinion: people really do love it and hate it in equal measure... To his fans, he's the cunning voice of dissent, staking the claim of the individual in a media-obsessed capitalist society. Whatever the opinion of the work or the mythology that surrounds it, it has to be said that Banksy is the best-known street artist working today... In terms of impact and raising public awareness, Banksy's career is unmatched." (Lewison, Cedar, Streetart, London, 2008, p.117 and118.)
Banksy executes his painted graffiti murals on public buildings and other kinds of structures and surfaces such as this work. Although he originally used free-hand processes to spray his murals, he turned to stencils as a way of getting his images on the wall quickly before he could be stopped. His images are drawn or printed onto sheets of cardboard or acetate and painstakingly cut, as they are often quite complex in their linear details. "Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a [f - - g] sharp knife to it." - Banksy
"Abe Lincoln" was painted on cardboard most likely using two separate stencils. Banksy, in fact, used the stencil for this portrait of Abraham Lincoln that he employed for his mural "Homeless Abe" (now destroyed), which was painted in September of 2008 in New Orleans, at the intersection of Cleveland and South Derbigny. The "Abe Lincoln" being offered here is from a "varied series of 3," one of which sold at Sotheby's on March 9, 2011, as lot 91. The Sotheby's "Abe Lincoln" shows green spray painted pockmarks over Lincoln's face and shirt, where this one does not; the whereabouts of the third variation is unpublished.
Banksy visited New Orleans exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina struck the city in August of 2005. The dozen or so images Banksy painted throughout the city were meant to be social commentaries on the difficulties of rebuilding New Orleans and dealt with such issues as poverty and social displacement of the poor and disenfranchised residents of the city. The mural "Homeless Abe" depicted Abraham Lincoln pushing a basket with his belongings through the street.
Neal Auction would like to extend its gratitude to art historian, Michael Plante, PhD, New Orleans, for his invaluable assistance with this catalogue entry.