Gangsta Rat
Gangsta Rat
Unsigned Print
Banksy
£12,500-£19,000Value Indicator
$26,000-$40,000 Value Indicator
$23,000-$35,000 Value Indicator
¥120,000-¥180,000 Value Indicator
€14,500-€22,000 Value Indicator
$130,000-$200,000 Value Indicator
¥2,500,000-¥3,790,000 Value Indicator
$17,000-$25,000 Value Indicator
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50 x 35cm, Edition of 350, Screenprint
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Meaning & Analysis
Gangsta Rat (red) (2004) is an unsigned Banksy screen print released in an edition of 350. Banksy combines signature spray-paint and stencilling styles to depict a rat wearing baseball cap, chain, and ghetto blaster, New York underground style, with “IPOW” tagged on the wall behind the rat in red.
Gangsta Rat is a largely black and white print in Banksy’s iconic spray-stencil style. It depicts a rat sitting next to a boombox wearing accessories typical of “gangster” street wear, such as a New York Mets baseball cap, an ear piercing and a long chain. There is a bright coral-red tag saying “IPOW” in the background as the central splash of colour on the image. This is an ironic social commentary on the ubiquity of Apple products and POW is a reference to Banksy’s print publisher: Pictures on Walls. The rat character portrayed is reminiscent of the New York underground style that was prevalent across the UK in the 1980s and 90s, and also draws inspiration from the French graffiti artist Blek Le Rat, who originally started using rats as a symbol.
Banksy also reproduced Gangsta Rat as a mural in Farringdon in 2004, in Old Street in 2006 and New York City in 2013 on the occasion of the artist’s painting residency: Better Out Than In. Much like other artworks from the Rat series, such as Love Rat and Radar Rat, Gangsta Rat is a very popular print both in its unsigned and signed editions.
Renowned British street artist, Banksy, is the enigmatic figure behind some of the most subversive works in the Urban Art scene. Despite his anonymity, the artists' disruptive stunts have not only gained him notoriety, but they have vocalised his stance on many social and political issues. As seen with the likes of Girl With Balloon and Napalm, Banksy uses his distinctive stencil technique to produce thought-provoking commentaries on challenging themes. The showcase of rebellion that lines his work has caused his secondary market value to soar in recent years, propelling him to the top of the Urban Art scene.
