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Grab yourself a piece of street art history with this 100% cotton Banksy T-Shirt. Featuring Banksy’s celebrated Smiley Copper - originally revealed at the Turf War Exhibition in London, 2003 - displayed on a cool white background for maximum visual impact.
About this image:
Other titles: Every Picture Tells A Lie/Smiley Face Copper
Location: Originally displayed at the Turf War Exhibition, London, 2003
The original piece features five of Banksy's smiley face riot police in a mural curated by the contemporary arts space Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien in 2003. The mural was unfortunately painted over numerous times, ruining the work, with no surviving pictures left to document it . The project was later restored to its original look in 2011 by artist Brad Downey, a task that required hours of work to remove several layers of paint, and was displayed at an exhibition called ‘What Lies Beneath’.
A whole line of SmileyCops, surrounding a large sign saying ‘Have A Nice Day’, were placed on a bridge overlooking traffic in Old Street, London. It was later updated with the slogan ‘Wrong War’. The Turf War exhibition also displayed a flying squadron of cut-outs of this image, with added mini-angel wings, suspended in formation from the ceiling. A solitary Smiley Cop appeared on a wall in Vienna, Austria.
