Gauntlet Gallery — Banksy Prints
Kids On Guns (First Edition)
Work Summary & Collector Notes
Kids On Guns shows two children in black silhouette standing hand-in-hand atop a mound built entirely of guns, rifles, missiles and knives; a pigtailed girl holds a red heart-shaped balloon while the boy clutches a teddy bear, the red heart the only color against a stark white ground. It is one of Banksy's defining early stencil images, distilling his anti-war message into a single tender-yet-grim tableau, and this is the rare 2003 First Edition of just 20.
Collector notes: Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 20. Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Why It Matters
The image is Banksy at his most economical and emotionally direct: childhood innocence (the heart balloon, the teddy bear, two kids holding hands) literally elevated by, and standing on, the global arms trade. Produced as British and American troops were entering Iraq, it reads the post-9/11 war machine through the imagery of children rather than soldiers, making the human cost legible at a glance. The motifs here, the children, the red heart and the floating balloon, feed directly into Banksy's most iconic later works, and the piece remains one of the clearest statements of the anti-war strand that runs through his entire output.
Collector Perspective
This is the scarcest tier of the image: the 2003 First Edition was issued in an edition of only 20, far smaller than the later signed and unsigned screen-print runs of Kids On Guns that most collectors encounter. At 20 copies it is a genuinely rare object that trades infrequently and almost always at auction or through specialist dealers rather than on the open market. Demand for the core children/balloon imagery keeps liquidity strong despite the tiny population.
Historical Context
Kids On Guns dates to 2003, the heart of Banksy's Stencil Boom Era and the period of his rise from Bristol and London walls to gallery editions, much of it published through Pictures on Walls. The year coincided with the invasion of Iraq and intense anti-war sentiment in the UK, the backdrop against which Banksy's mound-of-weapons motif lands. The image belongs to the same family of early Banksy children-and-conflict works and prefigures the red-heart-balloon vocabulary he would make globally famous with Girl with Balloon. The First Edition of 20 represents the earliest, smallest issue of the composition.
Documented Release Details
- Object type
- Editioned print or object
- Release date
- 2003
- Release-date note
- Catalog-listed release year from the saved secondary record; primary release-page confirmation remains pending.
- Medium and materials
- Medium and materials were not documented in the saved record.
- Edition details
- Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 20.
- Signature and marks
- Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Documented History and Meaning
History note: This page treats Banksy's broader career as background context, not proof that this specific edition belongs to any single exhibition or event. Release-level facts here come from a saved secondary catalog record.
Meaning / interpretation: Read as documented context rather than stated intent: Kids On Guns dates to 2003, the heart of Banksy's Stencil Boom Era and the period of his rise from Bristol and London walls to gallery editions, much of it published through Pictures on Walls. This is an interpretive reading of the release context, not a statement of the artist's intent for this specific work. This interpretive note follows the cited artist or publisher context.
Release context: The saved catalog lists 2003.
Authentication, Presentation and Provenance
- Original presentation
- Original packaging or presentation was not documented in the release sources reviewed.
- Authentication note
- Compare the support, dimensions, edition number, and signature against a documented example of this edition. Gauntlet Gallery does not authenticate works purchased from third parties.
- Provenance note
- Edition origin is attributed in the saved record to the release source named in the saved record. That does not establish the ownership history of an individual copy: retain the original invoice, reseller or gallery paperwork, labels, correspondence, and condition photographs.
Sources and Verification
Verification status: Secondary catalog snapshot; artist-level context added
- Banksy — Wikipedia · reference encyclopedia · Accessed 2026-07-13 · General artist-level biographical and career reference.
- Banksy (Q133600) — Wikidata · reference knowledge base · Accessed 2026-07-13 · Structured identifier used for the artist across catalog metadata.
FAQ
What does Kids On Guns depict?
Two children in black silhouette stand hand-in-hand on top of a hill made entirely of guns, rifles, missiles and knives. A pigtailed girl holds the string of a red heart-shaped balloon and the boy holds a teddy bear; the red heart is the only color against a white background.
How large is the edition?
This is the First Edition, issued in an edition of just 20, the smallest and earliest run of the Kids On Guns image and far rarer than Banksy's later screen-print editions of the same composition.
What year is it from?
2003, during Banksy's Stencil Boom Era and the period surrounding the Iraq War, much of his edition work from this time published via Pictures on Walls.
Is this print signed?
Who is Banksy?
Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist who emerged from Bristol in the early 1990s, known for fast stencil work, dark humour and anti-war, anti-establishment messages, and recurring motifs such as rats, riot police and children with balloons or weapons.
