This astounding artwork is the remnants of what was a Banksy Grin Reaper placard that would have
most likely been nailed to a wooden batten and used as a placard in England during the international
anti-Iraq war demonstration that took place in London on February the 15th 2003.
Banksy’s Grim Reaper is one of the earliest known street art themes from the artist. It appeared in
London’s Old street neighborhood where Banksy first tagged with the DryBreadZ Crew.
The strangest part of the image is the face of the Grin Reaper, appropriately a pun on the classic
“Grim Reaper” because the visage is a flat yellow “Smiley” icon. The bright, simply-drawn Smiley
presents such a childlike design of contentment that it is ripe for subversion, having been associated
with both the acceptance and vilification of 1960s/1970s peace ideals and 1980s/1990s acid house
culture (not to mention hundreds of other positive and negative pop culture appropriations). Here the
symbolism is clearly negative, signaling the placid, unbiased face of death as it waits for the hour to
strike upon its unpreventable killing job. Grin Reaper is a haunting image that is at once friendly and
sinister.
The item cannot be authenticated by Pest Control. Pest Control authenticates only the works
of Street Art that are still located in their place of origin and according to Pest Control was not
made for trade, therefore Pest Control refuses to authenticate the work, urban interventions,
especially the modified signs. Item was saved by one of the protestors.