Banksy's 'Forgive Us Our Trespassing' Is Going to Auction

After the last month of Banksy auction frenzy, an original piece by the acclaimed artist is now set to go under the hammer at Sotheby's Hong Kong on the 6th of October.

Towering at seven meters high, Banksy’s 'Forgive Us Our Trespassing' is the largest known piece by the anonymous street artist. While the image of the praying boy first appeared on the streets in 2010, the 7-meter version was created in 2011 with the participation of more than 100 6th-9th grade students at the City of Angels School.

Sotheby's describes the piece as follows:

With students assisting in tagging the stained glass windows, the present work goes to the very heart of the spirit of street art and graffiti. The imagery itself, on the other hand, is a potent and moving revelation of Banksy’s conflicted feelings about being a graffiti artist, speaking to deep preoccupations and pathos that underscore his artistic production. Trespassing is an act and word that underlies the very modus operandi of graffiti and street art, as street artists must trespass on private property in order to tag or paint a wall or surface. By asking for forgiveness, Banksy acknowledges the concerns of those who see his work as vandalism, but seems to convey that he ultimately means well, asking for understanding. Searing with raw immediacy while evincing rich layers of interpretations, Forgive Us Our Trespassing is a formidable, museum-caliber piece by the internationally acclaimed artist whose subversive practice has granted him a reputation of infamy as much as world renown... The setting of a sacred church functions on the one hand to heighten the ambiguous sentiments of contrition and repentance; on the other hand, the sacrilegious blasphemy of defacing the hallowed windows of a church paints an incredibly powerful statement that epitomizes Banksy’s cheeky, anarchic irreverence and rebellious spirit.

'Forgive Us Our Trespassing' will be going under the hammer on the 6th of October at Sotheby's Hong Kong, Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The monumental artwork has been certified by Pest Control and is estimated at HK$ 16,000,000 - 32,000,000 (roughly £1,600,000 and £3,2 00,000)

The highest price ever achieved at auction for a Banksy artwork is £9,879,500 for 'Devolved Parliament' at Sotheby's Frieze Week Contemporary Art Sale, 2019. Estimated at £1.5m-£2m, the piece sparked a 13-minute bidding battle in the sale-room and on the phones, going on to sell for nearly five times its estimate. Measuring nearly 5 meters wide, 'Devolved Parliament', is the artist's biggest known work on canvas and depicts the House of Commons populated by his signature chimpanzees. The result set an all new world record for Banksy and Street Art. Banksy's auction record was previously held by 'Keep It Spotless' which sold for £1,500,000 in 2008.

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