Whether they come from BMW or the World Touring Car Championship, art cars are typically based on, well… cars. But not this one. This is a van. A SWAT team van, to be specific. It’s a rolling work of art, and it can be yours if you place the top bid later this week.
The van is the work of noted British street artist Banksy. It depicts heavily armed police officers being pranked by a little boy on one side, and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz on the other. The artist is said to have been inspired to create the van while hiding from the cops under a garbage truck.
Banksy revealed the van as part of an exhibition back in September 2006, whose guest list included such celebrities as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Dennis Hopper. The event even featured a red-and-gold-painted elephant (Indian, not African) wandering around the space, the guests instructed not to discuss the (literal) elephant in the room.
The van hadn’t been seen since then, but having been authenticated, it’s now coming up for auction under the auspices of Bonhams. Not the automobile unit, mind you, but the fine art department that will auction it off at its upcoming Post-War and Contemporary Art sale on June 29 in London, where it expects the art-van to sell for approximately £200,000-300,000.
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