Banksy Stop and Search

Banksy is believed to have created Stop and Search somewhere around 2007. Although there appear to be some reincarnations of the work on canvas as well, the dominant form that this work takes is that of the 500 signed and numbered prints released by Banksy in 2007. Executed in a manner less like the bold and minimalist style that Banksy courageously employs in works such as Gangsta Rat and Sandwich Board Wearing-Monkey, this piece has been done more in the storybook kitsch and illustration style that he chooses in works such as No Ball Games.

Stop and Search presents in monochrome to the viewer, a two dimensional narrative or storyline with a fairly recognizable Dorothy (the central character of the Wizard of Oz), her small Maltese poodle, Otto, and a police officer with blue latex gloves, which are the only coloured visual element in Stop and Search. In this illustrative piece, we can see the police officer searching a distressed looking Dorothy’s basket while Otto looks on meekly from below. The eyes of the police officer are darkened and seem to instil him with a latent violence. The piece relates to the plot of the Wizard of Oz too and gives us the suggestion that Dorothy and Otto are being held by the police officer and kept from getting home in time.