Subject to Availability, an oil painting created by Banksy, is set to highlight Christie’s June 2021 20th century sale. The painting is considered one of the artist’s most important pieces from his series of “vandalized” oil paintings.

The 2009 piece is essentially a defaced rendition of Albert Bierstadt’s 1890 painting of Mount Rainier National Park. In true Banksy fashion, the street artist inserts a commentary in asterisks on the bottom right corner of the idyllic landscape painting, noting “Subject to availability for a limited period.”

“Banksy’s witty dialogue with the art historical canon brings the painting sharply into the current context of the global climate crisis,” Katharine Arnold, Christie’s co-head of postwar and contemporary art told Artnet.

It’s interesting to note that Bierstadt often depicted his concern about the climate, even campaigning against the destruction of nature throughout the industrial revolution, which can be likewise applied to the Banksy painting.

Fast forward ten years from the creation of Banksy’s work, “the idyllic park it depicts has already been closed to the public since February 2020 due to severe flooding and landslides,” Arnold alluded that Banksy’s artistic remark on global warming has rendered timeless adding.

The climate-conscious Subject to Availability by Banksy is expected to fetch between £3 million and £5 million (approximately $4.13 million to $7 million) at Christie’s London until May 7, 2021.

Posted by:Staff