Gauntlet Gallery — Banksy Prints
I Fought The Law (Uncut AP)
Work Summary & Collector Notes
A high-contrast stencil rendering of a real-life assassination scene: a group of plainclothes and uniformed men crowd over a fallen figure on a pavement, blood pooling in spray-painted red beneath an outstretched hand, while the slogan "I FOUGHT THE LAW AND I WO..." bleeds in dripping crimson capitals across the top. This 2005 Banksy screen print fuses crime-scene press imagery with the Bobby Fuller / Clash anthem to invert the song's "the law won" punchline into something ambiguous and subversive. The "Uncut AP" designates an artist-proof printed full-bleed without the standard white margin border.
Collector notes: Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 100. 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
"I Fought The Law" is one of Banksy's sharpest statements on protest, power and martyrdom. By staging an apparent shooting of a "lawbreaker" by figures who read as authorities or assassins, and cutting off the famous lyric mid-word, Banksy refuses the song's resolution that the law always wins — leaving open whether resistance triumphs or is simply crushed. The black-and-white documentary look, broken only by violent red text and a smear of blood, is classic mid-2000s Banksy: appropriated mass-media imagery weaponized with a single ironic caption. It sits squarely within his anti-establishment, anti-authority body of work from the height of his stencil period.
Collector Perspective
As an iconic, instantly readable image from a marquee year (2005), demand is consistent; condition matters because the heavy black ink shows handling and the full-bleed format has no margin to absorb edge wear. Realistic positioning: a desirable proof variant of a well-known image rather than a top-tier rarity like the signed colour prints.
Historical Context
Produced in 2005, during Banksy's most prolific stencil-boom years and the period that produced his POW print catalogue, the work takes its title and lyric from "I Fought the Law," written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets, a hit for the Bobby Fuller Four (1966) and famously covered by The Clash (1979). Banksy pairs that defiant refrain with imagery evoking a public killing — the kind of grainy crime or assassination photograph circulated by news media — to comment on how the state, or those acting in its name, deal with dissent. The cut-off "I WO..." deliberately strands the viewer's expectation that "the law won."
Documented Release Details
- Object type
- Editioned screenprint
- Release date
- 2005
- 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 100.
- 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: Produced in 2005, during Banksy's most prolific stencil-boom years and the period that produced his POW print catalogue, the work takes its title and lyric from "I Fought the Law," written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets, a hit for the Bobby Fuller Four (1966) and famously covered by The Clash (1979). 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 2005.
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 this print depict?
A monochrome stencil scene of several men in plain clothes and uniform grabbing a fallen figure on the ground, with a pool of red blood by an outstretched hand, beneath dripping red text reading 'I FOUGHT THE LAW AND I WO...'. It evokes a press photograph of a public shooting or assassination.
Is this print signed?
This is the 'Uncut AP' — an Artist Proof, printed full-bleed without the standard white border.
What is the edition size?
The edition is recorded as 100 for this configuration. Note that Banksy also issued standard signed and unsigned versions of 'I Fought The Law' in separate, larger runs; APs and full-bleed 'uncut' impressions are scarcer than the main edition.
What is the medium?
Screen print (silkscreen) on paper, the technique Banksy used for his Pictures on Walls (POW) print releases.
Who is Banksy?
Banksy is the anonymous England-based street artist who emerged from Bristol in the early 1990s, known for fast stencil work, dark humour and anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-establishment imagery, with prints published through Pictures on Walls.
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