Banksy - Girl With Balloon, GOLD Edition - West Country Prince – WCP - Iconic Banksy Reproduction

This screen print is produced by the elusive West Country Prince using the exact methods as Banksy’s early works; silk screen printed by hand onto the correct original 300 GSM Woven paper, to the correct specification. This is not a cheap digital re-print. It is the correct dimensions and colours as the Banksy Girl with Red Balloon screen print – the print size is 700 x 500 MM. It is stamped on the reverse with the WEST COUNTRY PRINCE logo to prevent fraud.

The Woven paper used for this piece matches the original Banksy Girl with Red Balloon. There are flecks and fibres within the paper which compliment the stencilled outlines of the original.

Title: Girl with GOLD Balloon

Medium: Hand pulled screen print

Paper: 300 gsm Wove Paper

Size: 70 x 50 cm

Edition: Blind edition

Year: 2021

Numbered: No; There is a red West Country Prince Stamp and “Banksy Copy” stamp on rear of print.

Framed: Unframed

Please note that this product is not endorsed by Banksy or Banksy's Pest Control organisation which clamps down quickly on any copyright abuse of Banksy imagery. The fact that the West Country Prince has been allowed to sell these pieces over many years has prompted speculation that he or she is an old friend of the street artist, or even the artist himself.

Girl With Balloon is the quintessential Banksy image. Using his signature graffiti stencil technique, this motif is internationally recognisable.

Banksy released the unsigned and signed prints in 2004/2005 in low edition sizes; there are just 150 Girl With Balloon signed prints, and 600 unsigned, making it one of the most sought-after Bansky prints in his entire oeuvre.

It depicts a young girl whose hair and dress are blowing in the wind, reaching for, or releasing, a red, heart-shaped balloon that has slipped from her grasp. The gesture and the red balloon, an archetypal symbol of childhood and freedom, present a powerful message that can be read in a number of ways. Whether you see the girl as losing the balloon, or about to catch it, the meaning can be interpreted as a loss of innocence or the arrival of new hope and love.

The image first appeared in London's Southbank in 2002, together with a quotation that read ‘there is always hope’, before the council painted over it. In response, Banksy produced it again in a new context – a miniature version that appeared on the cardboard backing of a cheap Ikea frame, which quickly made its mark on the art market when it realised £73,250 at a sale at Bonhams in 2012.

Since then, versions of Girl with Balloon have realised well above this. Girl with Balloon – Colour AP (Gold) realised £1,104,000 at Sotheby’s Modern Renaissance: A Cross-Category Sale in 25 March 2021, almost double its high estimate. The screenprint flew past the previous auction record held by a Banksy print, set by Girl with Balloon – Colour AP (Purple) at Christie’s in September 2020 for £791,250.