Napalm (Can’t beat that feeling)
Napalm. Serpentine edition
2004 Silkscreen print 56x76 cm
2006 Silkscreen print 29,7x41,6 cm
This piece is an altered version of a famous photograph from the Vietnam War, taken on June 8, 1972 by the photographer Nick Út, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. The original photograph shows 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc escaping the city of Trảng Bàng as she suffers burns caused by napalm bombs dropped by American forces. Phuc is still alive and is the main protagonist of the book The Girl in the Picture, published in 1996 by Denise Chong. Can’t Beat That Feeling, the other name of the work, is a reference to the slogan Coca Cola used for an advertising campaign in the 1990s. Banksy examines the relationship between perception and reality, focusing on paradox and contradiction: in his version, the girl is standing between two icons of American culture, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. Considered one of Banksy’s most unsettling images, the artist demonstrates how the United States perceives itself and how it’s perceived by other cultures. The only canvas version of the work is owned by Damien Hirst.
This Napalm version was created by Banksy in 2006 on the occasion of Damien Hirst exhibition at Serpentine Gallery, in which Hirst exhibited his personal art collection which includes several Banksy’s works, called Murderme Collection; the exhibition was entitled In The Darkest Hour There May Be Light. In this version, Banksy adds blood stains.
Festival (Destroy Capitalism) 2006 Silkscreen print 56x76 cm Festival, better known as Destroy Capitalism, is one of the artist’s darkest images. In the piece, a group of figures form a line at a merchandise stand, a typical scene at open-air music festivals like Glastonbury. During his years in Bristol, the artist repeatedly made and sold counterfeit merchandise at these kinds of festivals. During his collaboration with Blur for the cover of their album Think Tank, Banksy revealed that he had sold
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counterfeit t-shirts at their concerts. More than once, the artist has referred to his own work as an activity whose purpose is “to market the revolution”. The image, which appeared for the first time in 2006 as a poster in the exhibition Barely Legal in Los Angeles, is a commentary on capitalism’s ability to co-opt all those who try to ruin it, and references the fact that versions of it, sold for just a few pounds at Pictures On Walls, increased in value on the free market. In perfect irony, in 2013, Walmart began selling illegal copies of the print on its website. Once Banksy was informed, he filed charges against the American corporation, which was forced to pull the item.
