Weston Super Mare

Weston Super Mare by Banksy is a three-colour limited edition signed screen print of 150 and was released in 2003. The piece which depicts an elderly man, seated on a park bench, typical of those found along British seaside promenades. The man is quietly seated, hands folded in his lap, and his cane resting on the bench beside him. He looks to be content, perhaps watching the shoreline or the world go by. We must assume this is set in the coastal town of Weston Super Mare, given the title! The man is blind to the oncoming danger depicted to the right of the artwork. Banksy has stencilled an ominous, imposing, dark black bandsaw, almost hurtling towards the man on the bench. It seems to convey motion, tearing up the ground beneath it without a care for what may be in its path.

This rather eerie image could simply comment on the ultimate finality of life, or perhaps it’s most of Banksy's observations on how oblivious we can be in our day to day. Confident in our environment, our lives and existence, we might be naively assuming we are in control of our destiny without stopping to consider that there may be a menacing bandsaw just around the corner. The message of the artwork could thus be to enjoy the small moments, because you simply never know what is just around the corner. Weston Super Mare was also the location of Banksy's 2015 'experience' Dismaland which took over a derelict theme park in the seaside town and caused an international clamour for tickets.