According to the media, the truck was covered with graffiti by Banksy in 2000 when he was still unknown, for the global artist community. A preliminary estimate of this so-called modern masterpiece is reported to be between $1.2mln - $1.8mln (£1mln - £1.5mln).
“Banksy is arguably the most important artist to have emerged since the millennium and this, his largest commercial work, represents a new high watermark of quality for works of his to appear at auction [...] The composition bears all the hallmarks of this peerless agent provocateur”, the head of postwar and contemporary art of the Bonhams auction house, Ralph Taylor, gushed, cited by the Guardian.
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According to Taylor, cited by The Guardian, Banksy was at an open-air party in Spain to celebrate the millennium when he was presented with this truck by Mojo, the co-founder of Turbozone International Circus. Banksy then reportedly started his work on the truck during the party and continued to work on it for a fortnight. It was then used, for years, as the company’s transport around Europe and South America.
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“It is an enormous great lorry [...] Contemporary art can be anything, from a small painting to an installation that takes up an entire room. This is a 17-tonne lorry and it is completely painted. It’s an immersive experience […] It is incredibly impressive when you see it”, Taylor said, cited by the Guardian.
Taylor told The Guardian that the painted truck is a very important and unique masterpiece, because this work marks a pivotal moment in the career and life of the famous graffiti artist, a time when Banksy was reportedly beginning to work in a studio environment - not just outside guerrilla graffiti strikes.
The artwork will reportedly be sold by the Bonhams auction house on the Goodwood estate in West Sussex on 14 Spetember.
