(Fr)agile
1 work
Banksy Keep It Real For Sale
Banksy
Keep It Real, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
12 x 12 in 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Edition
Edition of 15
About this work
Banksy's Keep It Real is a thought-provoking artwork that challenges notions of authenticity and identity in contemporary society. Created in Banksy's distinctive stencil style, this piece features a young boy painting the phrase Keep It Real in bold letters on a wall.At first glance, the image may appear straightforward, but upon closer inspection, it reveals deeper layers of meaning. The phrase Keep It Real is a colloquial expression often used to encourage authenticity and sincerity. By depicting a child engaged in the act of graffiti, Banksy raises questions about the authenticity of self-expression in a world where personal identity is often commodified and manipulated for profit.The choice of a child as the central figure is significant. Children are often seen as symbols of innocence and purity, yet here, the child is engaged in an act of defiance, challenging societal norms and expectations. Banksy subverts traditional notions of childhood by depicting the child as a rebel and provocateur, unafraid to challenge authority and assert their own voice.Moreover, the act of graffiti itself carries political and social connotations. Graffiti has long been associated with urban subcultures and resistance movements, serving as a form of protest against social injustices and inequalities. By portraying graffiti as an act of empowerment and self-expression, Banksy highlights its potential to challenge dominant narratives and inspire change.Keep It Real can also be interpreted as a commentary on the commodification of street art and the co-optation of underground culture by mainstream society. Banksy, who rose to fame through his street art, often grapples with questions of authenticity and commercialization in his work. Through Keep It Real, he prompts viewers to question the boundaries between art and commerce and to consider the true value of creativity and self-expression in a consumer-driven world.Overall, Keep It Real is a powerful and thought-provoking artwork that challenges viewers to confront notions of authenticity, identity, and self-expression. Through his poignant imagery, Banksy encourages us to question the status quo and to strive for sincerity and integrity in our lives and interactions.
Price on Application
Auction History
Keep It Real · Banksy · Sotheby's · 2021-10 · $686,208
KEEP IT REAL · Banksy · Sotheby's · 2017-01 · $120,844
Keep it Real/Laugh Now (Silver) · Banksy · Heritage Auctions · 2020-06 · $1,000
Keep it Real/Laugh Now (Beige) · Banksy · Heritage Auctions · 2017-11 · $500
More from this series
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Avon and Somerset Constabulary
2001
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Avon and Somerset Constabulary (pink)
2001
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Bad Meaning Good
2002
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Bird With Grenade
2005
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Bomb Love
2002
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CCTV (Blue)
2004
Banksy
HMV Dog
2000
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Kids On Guns
2003
Banksy
Kissing Coppers
2006
Banksy
Lenin On Rollerblades
2003
Banksy
Monkey Dynamite
2002
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Paranoid Pictures
2005
Banksy
Petrol Head
2003
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Precision Bombing
2000
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Radar Rat
2002
More series by Banksy
About the Paintings Series
Banksy Paintings Prints For Sale
Banksy's Paintings series from the early 2000s represents a pivotal transition in the artist's evolution from street interventionist to globally recognized contemporary art phenomenon. Created between 2000 and 2006, this body of work—including iconic pieces such as Kissing Coppers, Monkey Dynamite, Bird With Grenade, and Kids On Guns—demonstrates the artist's masterful ability to translate the immediacy and subversive power of street art into collectible canvases. These works employ Banksy's signature stencil technique combined with spray paint and acrylic on canvas, creating bold, graphic compositions that retain the raw aesthetic energy of his outdoor interventions while offering collectors museum-quality pieces for private acquisition.
The thematic concerns driving this series reveal Banksy's preoccupation with anti-war sentiment, anti-authoritarianism, and institutional critique. Works like Bomb Love and Bird With Grenade juxtapose innocence with violence, transforming symbols of destruction into darkly humorous commentary on contemporary society. HMV Dog and Radar Rat repurpose corporate and cultural iconography to question consumerism and surveillance, while Kissing Coppers boldly challenges authority and heteronormative expectations. This period marks Banksy's refinement of a visual language that would come to define 21st-century protest art—accessible, politically charged, and immediately recognizable.
From a market perspective, paintings from this era represent some of the most sought-after works in Banksy's oeuvre. As foundation pieces created before his meteoric rise to art market superstardom, they carry significant historical importance for serious collectors. The limited number of canvases produced during this period, combined with Banksy's deliberate restriction of his studio output, has created exceptional scarcity. Authentication remains paramount, as these early works predate Pest Control's formal certification process, making provenance documentation and expert verification essential for acquisition.
For collectors seeking museum-caliber contemporary art with proven appreciation potential, Banksy's Paintings series offers rare investment-grade opportunities. These works bridge street culture and fine art, appealing to both traditional collectors and new generation art investors who recognize Banksy's cultural significance and enduring market strength.
Guy Hepner | Contemporary Art Gallery
About Banksy
Banksy prints for sale at Guy Hepner include authenticated signed and unsigned editions: Girl with Balloon, Choose Your Weapon, Tesco Soup Cans, Fragile, Laugh Now, and Flower Thrower. Buy Banksy prints in New York through our gallery at 177 Tenth Avenue — all works sourced with full provenance and authentication documentation. We also buy Banksy art and offer free valuations for sellers.
Banksy is the world’s most celebrated anonymous street artist — a figure whose identity remains unknown but whose visual language is instantly recognisable across continents. Emerging from the Bristol graffiti scene in the early 1990s, Banksy developed a stencil-based technique that allowed rapid, precise execution on walls, bridges, and public surfaces from London and New York to Gaza and the West Bank. His work fuses dark humour, political provocation, and formal rigour in a way that has made him equally at home on the street and in the auction room. Today, Banksy art for sale represents one of the most dynamic and hotly contested segments of the contemporary secondary market.
Banksy Art For Sale
Banksy art for sale encompasses original spray-painted canvases, unique works on board, signed and unsigned print editions, and — on rare occasions — documented wall works sold with photographic authentication. The breadth of subjects he has addressed is remarkable: consumer capitalism (Tesco Soup Cans, Trolley Hunters), celebrity culture (Kate Moss, Andy Warhol), surveillance and control (Radar Rat, CCTV Watching), and hope and fragility (Girl with Balloon, Fragile).
The benchmark auction event in Banksy’s market history remains the October 2018 Sotheby’s London sale, when Girl with Balloon — having just sold for £1.04 million — was partially shredded by a device concealed in the frame, becoming Love is in the Bin. The reconstituted work subsequently sold in October 2021 for £18.5 million, underscoring the extraordinary commercial power of Banksy’s interventions and the appetite of the global collector base for his most iconic imagery.
Banksy Paintings For Sale
Banksy paintings for sale — unique spray-painted works on canvas or board — are the rarest and most valuable category of his output. These works, typically produced in small numbers for specific shows or commissions, carry full documentation from Pest Control and have appeared at auction with results ranging from six to eight figures. Choose Your Weapon, Monkey Parliament, and large-format stencil canvases from his early 2000s output represent the apex of private collector demand.
Provenance is paramount for Banksy paintings. Unbroken ownership history from first sale through to the present day, combined with a current Pest Control certificate, is the minimum standard for any serious acquisition. Works without this documentation carry substantial authentication risk regardless of visual appearance.
Banksy Prints: Signed vs Unsigned
Banksy print editions form the most accessible and widely traded category of his market. Published through his own distribution channels and in very limited numbers, these screenprints exist in signed and unsigned variants — a distinction that has a significant impact on value. Signed editions — with Banksy’s hand signature — command multiples of two to five times comparable unsigned editions in the same print run.
Key print series sought by collectors include: Girl with Balloon (multiple colourways), Choose Your Weapon, Kate Moss, Tesco Soup Cans, Fragile, Radar Rat, Flower Thrower, and Di-Faced Tenners. Edition sizes vary from as few as 150 to several hundred, and sell-through rates at auction confirm strong secondary demand across all major series.
Banksy Authentication: Pest Control
Pest Control is Banksy’s official authentication body and the only organisation authorised to certify works as genuine. When you buy Banksy prints or original art, a current Pest Control Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is the non-negotiable standard. The COA features a torn currency note — half retained by Pest Control, half with the work — as a security measure, and is registered against a specific edition and owner.
At Guy Hepner Gallery, every Banksy work offered for sale is accompanied by Pest Control documentation. We do not offer works without verified authentication, and our team is available to guide collectors through the acquisition process, including condition reporting, framing recommendations, and insurance valuation.
Ready to buy Banksy art? Contact Guy Hepner to explore our current inventory of authenticated Banksy prints and original works.