An old Volvo truck is just that, old and unsought. But an old Volvo truck with Banksy artwork on it is…a vintage treasure. Yep, the old truck that would’ve gone for peanuts will now be a coveted collector’s item. A work that the artist painted onto a Volvo FL6 box truck back in 2000 is headed to Bonham’s for the auction house’s Goodwood Revival car sale in Chichester, England, on September 14. The truck covered in Banksy’s graffiti it is expected to fetch between £1 million and £1.5 million ($1.3 million–$2 million). The truck has a lovely back-story as well; the owner of the Turbozone International Circus Company, known for its pyrotechnic productions, asked Banksy to use the truck as a canvas for an outdoor party in Spain to celebrate the start of the new millennium. Banksy worked on the painting, titled Turbo Zone Truck (Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be in Charge), that night and the next two weeks, and the truck subsequently went on tour with Turbozone, travelling throughout Europe and to South America.
Banksy has emerged as one of the most sought-after artists of the millennium with his works are fetching mountainous figures. Ralph Taylor, Bonhams’ head of postwar and contemporary art, said he was thrilled to have the work in the sale. “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,” he said.
[Via:Artnet]
