Gauntlet Gallery — Banksy Prints
Choose Your Weapon (Bright Pink)
Work Summary & Collector Notes
Choose Your Weapon (Bright Pink) depicts a greyscale stencilled hoodie-wearing youth, rendered in Banksy's signature dripping spray technique, standing against a flat bright-pink ground while holding a chain leash attached to a barking dog lifted directly from Keith Haring's iconic 1980s line-drawing. By substituting Haring's joyful, energetic dog for a guard animal restrained by a hooded figure, Banksy turns a celebrated piece of street-art history into a literal "weapon," collapsing graffiti homage, menace and humour into one image. It is among Banksy's most sought-after and instantly recognisable Pictures on Walls prints, issued across a spectrum of vivid colourways.
Collector notes: Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 70. 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 print is one of Banksy's clearest art-historical statements: rather than quoting an old master, he appropriates Keith Haring, a fellow street artist who moved from the subway to the gallery, and reframes Haring's exuberant Barking Dog as something to be wielded. The hooded figure, a loaded symbol of youth criminalisation and surveillance-era "hoodie" panic in late-2000s Britain, holds the chained animal like a threat, asking the viewer to read the dog as protest, defence or aggression. It is at once a tribute, a provocation about who controls public imagery, and a wry comment on graffiti's own conversion into a marketable, weaponisable brand, themes squarely within Banksy's protest-and-subversion and policing-and-surveillance vocabulary.
Collector Perspective
Choose Your Weapon is a cornerstone of any Banksy print collection and one of the most actively traded titles at auction. This is the Bright Pink colourway from the 2010 signed release in an edition of 70, published via Pictures on Walls. Signed examples in the small edition of 70 sit well above the unsigned editions in both desirability and price, and the title overall exists in a wide range of standard and rarer "AP" colour variants, which collectors actively chase by colour. As a recognised, frequently-offered title it offers strong liquidity, though the bright pink variant's appeal is partly colour-driven and pricing tracks the broader Banksy market.
Historical Context
Released in 2010 through Pictures on Walls during Banksy's transition into the mainstream art world, the image extends his long engagement with graffiti's lineage by quoting Keith Haring (1958-1990), whose chalk-drawn Radiant Baby and Barking Dog defined New York street art a generation earlier. The hooded subject draws on the "hoodie" as a flashpoint of British public anxiety in the 2000s, an era of ASBOs, CCTV expansion and tabloid panic over urban youth, aligning the work with Banksy's recurring interest in policing, surveillance and the criminalisation of the young. The print appeared the same year Banksy's reputation was cresting toward the release of his film Exit Through the Gift Shop.
Documented Release Details
- Object type
- Editioned screenprint
- Release date
- 2010
- Release-date note
- Catalog-listed release year from the saved secondary record; primary release-page confirmation remains pending.
- Medium and materials
- Screen Print.
- Edition details
- Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 70.
- 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: Released in 2010 through Pictures on Walls during Banksy's transition into the mainstream art world, the image extends his long engagement with graffiti's lineage by quoting Keith Haring (1958-1990), whose chalk-drawn Radiant Baby and Barking Dog defined New York street art a generation earlier. 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 2010.
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 Choose Your Weapon (Bright Pink) depict?
A greyscale stencilled figure in a hooded sweatshirt stands against a bright-pink background holding a chain leash attached to a barking dog. The dog is copied from Keith Haring's famous line-drawing, so the print reads as a Banksy tribute to, and appropriation of, another street artist's imagery, with the dog framed as a 'weapon.'
What is the edition size?
This release is an edition of 70.
Is this print signed or unsigned?
This is the signed Bright Pink edition of 70. Banksy issued Choose Your Weapon in both signed and unsigned editions and across many colourways; signed examples are scarcer and more valuable than the unsigned versions.
What medium is it?
It is a screen print (silkscreen) on paper, dated 2010 and published by Pictures on Walls.
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-establishment messages, recurring motifs such as rats and balloons, prints published through Pictures on Walls, and stunts like the self-shredding Girl with Balloon.
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