Banksy’s bullet proof ‘Vest’ will make its auction debut during Frieze Week when it is offered in Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction with an estimate of £200,000-300,000. One in a series of five unique examples, and the first Vest to ever be offered on the secondary market, this iconic object will go on public view as part of Sotheby’s preview exhibitions in its New Bond Street Galleries from 3rd-9th October.
Given an iconic stature by Stormzy during his legendary Glastonbury performance, this reinterpretation of a classic piece of modern day police-issue armour is Banksy at his best. In a way only Banksy can, he manages to powerfully condense a complex social issue through one redolent object. There is no doubt this artwork is more pertinent now than when the first Vest debuted at Glastonbury – an event that saw it become the symbol of a defining cultural moment.
Emma Baker, Head of Contemporary Evening Sale, Sotheby’s
Vest belongs to Banksy’s Gross Domestic Product homewares line, which was first displayed in a shopfront in Croydon in South London in 2019, to comment on the impending commercialisation of the Banksy brand. The customised Vests aim to re-interpret the ‘John Bull’ gentleman’s waistcoat – a garment which emerged in the 1700s as a symbol of traditional British society – to reflect the realities of modern urban life. Taking a former police garment, capable of stopping bullets, Banksy adorned the protective Vest with a black-and-white Union Jack, infused with a rusty red hue – perhaps suggestive of dried blood. By doing so, he fuses ideas of patriotism with the realities of violence and rising knife crime in the UK. The Union Jack’s traditional representation of British history also takes on a new slant in Vest – perhaps a subtle implication that for some citizens being “British” does not equate to safety and equal rights. Instead, it symbolises here the tension between national belonging and experiences of exclusion, racism and violence felt by so many.
Last night I headlined Glastonbury in a stab-proof vest custom made by the greatest, most iconic living artist on planet earth, the one and only Banksy.
Stormzy
Ever the anti-establishment artist, Banksy chose one of the biggest platforms in music to have his message heard: Glastonbury Festival. During Stormzy’s 2019 performance, which saw him become the first British Grime artist to headline the Pyramid Stage, he wore another Vest from the series. Like Banksy, Stormzy uses his platform to highlight systemic inequality and injustice, particularly the targeting of young Black men by a biased criminal justice system, as well as endemic surges in knife crime and widespread political unrest across the UK. Stormzy’s performance was visually punctuated by the stark imagery of the words “knife crime” projected behind him, alongside an excerpt from a speech by MP David Lammy, emphasising the pressing issues plaguing the nation.
In 2020, Banksy’s Vest (worn by Stormzy), was nominated for a major design award, the Beazley Design of the Year prize, and was subsequently donated to the Design Museum in London by the British musician. Another work from the series was featured in Banksy’s most recent exhibition, Cut and Run, which took place at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow – his first solo show in 14 years.
The sale comes almost six years to the day since Banksy himself intervened in a Sotheby’s auction when ‘the nation’s favourite artwork’ Girl with Balloon auto-destructed as the gavel came down on 5th October 2018, to become the freshly titled Love is in the Bin, marking the first time an artwork has been created during a live sale. Three years later, in 2021, the world-famous artwork returned to auction in its new form, selling for a record £18.6 million / $25.4 million.
Who knew moving into gents tailoring could be this much fun? A vest that’s capable of stopping bullets up to 45 calibre. And yet it’s not machine washable.
Banksy
