A band who were given a painting by Banksy more than a decade ago in return for changing their name have said they are finally selling the artwork because “people should be able to see it”.
The canvas artwork Brace Yourself!, which shares its name with its rock group owners, has gone on display in London before a sale in the US later this month.
The work, which Julien’s Auctions values at an estimated $600,000-$800,000 (£500,000-£670,000), has been in the band’s possession since 2010.
The artist had asked the band – then called Exit Through the Gift Shop – to choose a new name owing to copyright issues with his Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary of the same name.
After valuing the artwork – which features Death driving a bumper car – with Sotheby’s at £200,000, the band stored it and it was included in 2014’s Stealing Banksy and 2021’s Art of Banksy exhibitions.
Asked how they were feeling about selling, the guitarist Darren Moore said: “I was kind of quite frustrated that it was so valuable … it did just kind of languish for a while in storage, hidden away from the world, and so I was really happy when we finally started to exhibit.”
His fellow guitarist Mark Atkinson said: “I think for me, it’s the thing of even though we wouldn’t own it any more, it’s still part of our story.” He said they were getting to fulfil their bucket list by playing a gig in front of the painting at the auction in California as it could be taken out of temperature-controlled storage, which had been a cost to the band.
Atkinson said: “People should be able to see it … whether that’s [in] someone’s house or in a museum. So it wasn’t necessarily the cost driving [the sale] but it was a trigger because [after the exhibits] we were going to have to put it in storage and [continue to pay for] insurance.”
The sale is also about preserving the artwork as a “piece of history”, said the singer Natalie Zalewska. Asked if the band would be disappointed if a private collector buys the work, she added: “I think it will be shown again at some point even if that does happen, because he’s the biggest artist in the world. He’s so important.”
She said the painting had given them joy and a lot of opportunities for fun, and they wanted to say goodbye to it in a “cool way”.
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Proceeds from the sale will go to the band, with a large portion set aside for MusiCares, a music industry charity.
The work is being displayed in the window of the Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus until 15 March.
The auction will start at 7pm PDT (3am BST) on 29 March at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, and online at julienslive.com.
