A Painting Banksy Vandalized To Highlight Climate Change Predicted To Fetch $5Μ

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“Subject to Availability,” a painting “vandalized” by Banksy to highlight climate change is set to hit another auction record.

The artwork features a defaced version of a 1980 oil painting by Albert Bierstadt, depicting Mount Rainier National Park.

The work highlights the dangers of climate change by offering an additional perspective on the beautiful landscape depicted by Bierstadt. Banksy simply added an asterisk with the note: “Subject to availability for a limited period only.”

“Banksy’s witty dialogue with the art historical canon brings the painting sharply into the current context of the global climate crisis,” says Katharine Arnold, co-head of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s, in an interview with Artnet News. “Ten years on from its creation,” she adds, “the idyllic park it depicts has already been closed to the public since February 2020 due to severe flooding and landslides.”

“Subject to Availability” is expected to bring in between £3 million and £5 million ατ Christie’s. Last year, a 2005 Banksy parody of a Monet painting, adding trolleys and a discarded traffic cone to the famous garden scene, smashed all estimates when it was sold for £7.5 million at an auction.

Banksy’s “Subject to Availability” is on view as part of the “Off the Wall: Basquiat to Banksy” exhibition at Christie’s King Street galleries until May 7, alongside works by artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.