A rare, hand-painted work by Banksy from the collection of Blink-182’s cofounder and bassist Mark Hoppus will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London on March 4.
The painting, titled Crude Oil (Vettriano) and completed in 2005, has a high estimate of £5 million and will headline the house’s modern and contemporary evening sale. The auction will also include works by Pablo Picasso, Yoshimoto Nara, Anthony Gormley, and Roy Lichtenstein.
More from Robb Report
Hoppus, who made three number one albums with the American rock band, will donate some of the funds raised by the sale of the painting to the California Fire Foundation and two Los Angeles medical charities—the Child Life Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Cedars Sinai Hematology Oncology Research—in the wake of the city’s devastating wildfires.
“We loved this painting since the moment we saw it,” Hoppus, who acquired the work in 2011, said in a statement. “Unmistakably Banksy, but different. We bought it because we loved it. It’s borne witness to our family over these past dozen years. It hung over the table in London where we ate breakfast and our son did his homework. It hung in our living room in Los Angeles. It’s seen laughter and tears and parties and arguments.”
Crude Oil (Vettriano) featured in Bansky’s first conventional gallery show in 2005 in Notting Hill titled “Crude Oils: A Gallery of Re-mixed Masterpieces, Vandalism, and Vermin.” The work is a re-imagining of Scottish artist Jack Vettriano’s 1992 painting The Singing Butler. At the exhibition it was hung alongside Banksy takes on van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, and Monet’s paintings of his garden at Giverny.
“This isn’t just an iconic Banksy, it is a Banksy that has been treasured by music legend, Mark Hoppus, who fell for this work for its rebellious spirit, raw edge and unfiltered expression—the fundamentals that also shaped Mark’s world: Punk culture,” Sotheby’s Europe chairman Oliver Barker said in a statement. “Street art and Punk Rock share the same vocabulary—they speak to the outsider, the rebel and the overlooked. Both movements were born from the margins. They challenge authority and rewrite the rules, a fundamental trait shared by Mark and Banksy. Now, by sharing Crude Oil (Vettriano) with the world, Mark will open others’ eyes to the true power art can have; to spark conversation and challenge the way we see the world around us.”
Best of Robb Report
Sign up for RobbReports’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
