Monkey Queen
Monkey Queen
Unsigned Print
Banksy
50 x 35cm, Edition of 600, Screenprint, 2003
£7,500-£11,500
$14,500-$22,000 Market Value Indicator
$14,000-$22,000 Market Value Indicator
¥70,000-¥100,000 Market Value Indicator
€9,000-€13,500 Market Value Indicator
$80,000-$120,000 Market Value Indicator
¥1,640,000-¥2,510,000 Market Value Indicator
$10,000-$15,000 Market Value Indicator
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Meaning & Analysis
Monkey Queen is one of Banksy’s earliest screen prints, released as an unsigned edition of 600 in 2003. Featuring a monkey wearing the late Queen Elizabeth II's jewels and coiffed hair against a mod-style target, the image was controversial enough to spark ‘Banksygate’ but is only exemplary of Banksy’s defiant anti-authoritarian attitude.
Monkey Queen is a quintessential example of Banksy’s daring, unapologetic humour. The colourful work depicts a monkey wearing all the ornamentation of a Queen -- crown, diamond necklace and earrings – in front of a background of red, white, blue, except not that of the Union Jack, more the ‘target’ symbol synonymous with Mods. The three colour artwork of the photo-realistic monkey in Banksy’s spray-stencil-style is reminiscent of his earlier work Laugh Now, in which he prophesizes a society run by our primate cousins. Having a monkey queen would be the ultimate symbol of monkeys taking over (as envisaged in Planet of the Apes). This painting first appeared at a youth centre’s club called The Chill Out Zone on Broad Street in Newent in around 2004.
