{"product_id":"banksy-rude-copper-2003","title":"Banksy - Rude Copper (2003)","description":"\u003cp\u003eBanksy is the most celebrated and influential figure in contemporary street art. Active since the late 1990s, he turned the language of graffiti into an instrument of social critique capable of reaching a global audience. His identity remains unknown, which has only deepened the fascination with an artist who has always put the message ahead of the author's figure. Through essential, ironic and immediately recognisable images he addresses power, consumerism, war, surveillance and social inequality, and his works have entered the collections of major institutions and the front rank of international collecting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRude Copper, made in 2003, belongs to one of the most iconic and recognisable subjects in Banksy's production. The work shows a British police officer in uniform making a deliberately provocative gesture, overturning the image of authority and turning it into a symbol of dissent and irreverence. Through the essential language of the stencil, Banksy builds a scene of immediate legibility that combines humour and social critique. The figure of the English Bobby is one of the artist's recurring themes: from the outset he has used the relationship between the individual and power as a central element of his research, and here the gesture breaks every institutional formality, questioning authority and inviting the viewer to reflect on the symbols of control in contemporary society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade at a crucial moment in Banksy's career, when his visual language was acquiring international reach, the work testifies to the most authentic phase of his production. Pieces from the early 2000s are today considered among the most representative of his artistic evolution, because they contain the essence of his style: essential images, strong communicative impact and direct but accessible social critique.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe rarity of the work adds a further dimension. Rude Copper is a unique work belonging to a series of only five examples, an extremely rare characteristic within the artist's production. The presence of the provenance certificate and the excellent state of conservation document its history and its authenticity. Works on card from this period — the support used for the early productions intended for the market — are the segment collectors follow most closely, alongside subjects such as Girl with Balloon, Love Rat and Laugh Now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collecto Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58063576006996,"sku":"4344","price":116050.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0975\/9083\/7588\/files\/file-1785756271675-1.png?v=1793446512","url":"https:\/\/collectoarchive.com\/products\/banksy-rude-copper-2003","provider":"Collecto Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}