
Screenprint in colours. Hand-signed, numbered, and blind stamped.// I Fought The Law captures Banksy at the height of his subversive powers, a boldly political screenprint that inverts the visual language of law enforcement to challenge institutional authority. Two policemen crouch in poses of devotion, not over weapons or evidence, but over a small cluster of flowers growing from the pavement — an inversion so complete and so perfectly executed that it carries devastating philosophical force. The composition is anchored by blazing orange text reading 'I FOUGHT THE LAW AND I W...' (the phrase cutting off mid-word, invoking the song by The Clash while suggesting that language itself is truncated, incomplete), rendered in a colour that burns against the muted black-and-white palette of the figures and their urban context. Banksy's logic here is deceptively simple: if police officers — symbols of institutional power, coercion, and control — are depicted with absolute seriousness and reverence focussed on nature and beauty, then perhaps the true law, the true authority worth defending, is the organic world and not the machinery of state. The work was created in 2004, during Banksy's peak period of street-level productivity and political conviction, when his transition to the gallery system was still contested and his work retained maximum provocative power. This signed and numbered edition of 150 remains a cornerstone of his printed oeuvre, representing the marriage of graphic sophistication with political clarity. The bold orange against black and white is also technically masterful, demonstrating complete command of the screenprint medium.
I Fought The Law, 2004
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Screenprint in colours. Hand-signed, numbered, and blind stamped.// I Fought The Law captures Banksy at the height of his subversive powers, a boldly political screenprint that inverts the visual language of law enforcement to challenge institutional authority. Two policemen crouch in poses of devotion, not over weapons or evidence, but over a small cluster of flowers growing from the pavement — an inversion so complete and so perfectly executed that it carries devastating philosophical force. The composition is anchored by blazing orange text reading 'I FOUGHT THE LAW AND I W...' (the phrase cutting off mid-word, invoking the song by The Clash while suggesting that language itself is truncated, incomplete), rendered in a colour that burns against the muted black-and-white palette of the figures and their urban context. Banksy's logic here is deceptively simple: if police officers — symbols of institutional power, coercion, and control — are depicted with absolute seriousness and reverence focussed on nature and beauty, then perhaps the true law, the true authority worth defending, is the organic world and not the machinery of state. The work was created in 2004, during Banksy's peak period of street-level productivity and political conviction, when his transition to the gallery system was still contested and his work retained maximum provocative power. This signed and numbered edition of 150 remains a cornerstone of his printed oeuvre, representing the marriage of graphic sophistication with political clarity. The bold orange against black and white is also technically masterful, demonstrating complete command of the screenprint medium.
What is appropriation?
Appropriation in art involves using pre-existing images or objects with little or no modification. This technique has played a significant role across various art forms, including visual arts, music, performance, and literature. In visual arts, appropriation refers to the practice of adopting, sampling, recycling, or borrowing elements—or even entire forms—of existing visual culture, integrating them into new works to create meaning or critique.

Banksy
I Fought The Law, 2004
70 x 70 cm


































