BANKSY (B. 1975), Girl With Ice Cream on Palette

Girl with Ice Cream on Palette
2003

signed, dated 2003 and numbered 3/15 on the reverse
acrylic, spray paint and emulsion on wood

60.3 x 49.1 cm (23 3/4 x 19 5/16 in)

This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control Office.

Provenance
Lazinc Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2006

BANKSY
調色板上的冰淇淋女孩
壓克力 噴漆 乳膠 木板
2003年作

簽名：3/15 BANKSY 2013（背面）

附Pest Control Office簽發之保證書

來源
倫敦Lazinc畫廊
現藏家得自上述來源

Girl with Ice Cream on Palette (2003) is pure Banksy: provocative, bitingly satirical and yet tender. Always a vicious opponent of mass media and casual consumerism in the sense that today's youth are being sold aggression instead of innocence, war instead of play explodes from the canvas in a flash of hot pink. The little girl sporting a pigtail amiably hold onto the melting cone of ice cream with the cumbersome explosive weapon as if it were her favourite summertime joy. This is truly a stone-cold classic by Banksy coming from the zenith of the artist's most celebrated period.

Banksy's works intend to shock, yet they also aim to engender thought-provoking discourse through their simple visual elements. The proximity of someone so vulnerable, yet so close to danger, is undoubtedly compelling, and through Banksy's clever dichotomy, the artist is sending a message of optimism to the universe, with the aspiration that one day love will overcome war. Just as the artist once said, "I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in – like peace and justice and freedom" (the artist in: Wall and Piece, London 2005, p. 29). Girl with Ice Cream on Palette is charged with a veiled anti-war sentiment and through his rendering, Banksy is tackling international concerns, and critiquing the government and the media for the rose-tinted glasses worn during periods of brutal warfare.

This evident juxtaposition of the fragilities of childhood, closely intertwined with the atrocities of war, is an ironic combination of subject matters common in Banksy's Street art. The depiction of a young child heightens the emotions of love, loss, and hope and there is seemingly an appetite amongst collectors for this powerful motif of lost innocence. Executed in 2003, Girl with Ice Cream on Palette is a prime model of Banksy's enduring anti-war art of the last two decades.

作為班克斯創作顛峰時期之作，《調色板上的冰淇淋女孩》帶有班克斯的標誌性風格──挑釁、犀利諷刺，同時不失溫暖。班克斯向來以大眾媒體和享樂消費主義的反對者自居，認為今日的年輕人被餵養的是侵略而非純真，戰爭而非遊戲，他猛烈的批判力道宛如從畫布爆破而出的艷粉光芒。畫面中，紮著辮子的小女孩手握冰淇淋甜筒，融化中的冰淇淋竟插了一個棘手的爆炸性武器，她愉快的表情彷彿這是她夏日最大的喜樂，叫人看得膽戰心驚。

班克斯的藝術以衝擊人心為目的，並旨在運用淺顯易懂的視覺元素，引起深刻反省的對話。一個弱小無辜的人竟如此接近危險，任誰看了都會震撼不已。由此，班克斯以巧妙的二元對立手法，樂觀地向宇宙發送信息，盼望有一天愛能戰勝戰爭。正如藝術家本人所說：「身為西方民主社會的一員，我希望自己有勇氣以匿名者的身分挺身而出，呼籲和平、正義和自由，這些沒人相信的理想」（藝術家自述源自：《Wall and Piece》，倫敦，2005 年，第 29 頁）。《調色板上的冰淇淋女孩》隱含強烈的反戰意識，班克斯藉由藝術的轉化指出國際問題，抨擊政府和媒體戴著玫瑰色的鏡片，意圖粉飾戰爭的殘酷。

脆弱的童真與暴力的戰爭交織成一幅畫面，這種諷刺意味十足的並置手法常見於班克斯的街頭藝術。作品中的孩童形象強化了愛、失去與希望的情感，對於這種純真消逝的強烈題材，收藏家尤為趨之若鶩。2003年創作的《調色板上的冰淇淋女孩》，實為班克斯二十年來歷久彌新的經典反戰佳品。