Edition 63 of 150 signed impressions, with a further unsigned edition of 500. Signed, dated and numbered in pencil and bearing the blindstamp of Pictures on Walls, London. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Pest Control Office. Created in 2006, Applause was released in association with Banksy’s landmark Barely Legal exhibition, staged in a Los Angeles warehouse. It belongs to a group of prints connected with the exhibition that also includes Grannies, Trolleys, Morons and Festival. Measuring more than 120 centimetres across, it is among Banksy’s largest editioned screenprints. A military jet faces the viewer from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, flanked by two ground crew wearing bright yellow high-visibility jackets. One holds aloft a placard bearing the command “APPLAUSE”, recalling the illuminated signs used in television studios and live productions to prompt a rehearsed audience response. The predominantly monochrome composition lends the image the appearance of documentary photography, while the sharp yellow accents and incongruous sign transform the military scene into a carefully managed spectacle. The image is widely understood in relation to the media choreography surrounding the Iraq War and President George W. Bush’s 2003 “Mission Accomplished” address aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Rather than depicting the president himself, Banksy concentrates upon the machinery and personnel behind the presentation. The “APPLAUSE” sign collapses the distinction between military operation and staged entertainment, questioning how images of conflict are packaged for public consumption and how political approval may be encouraged through spectacle. Banksy frequently combines familiar imagery, concise text and dark humour to expose the mechanisms of authority and mass communication. In Applause, a single theatrical intervention changes the meaning of an otherwise imposing military image. What initially appears to celebrate technological power becomes a pointed commentary on propaganda, performance and the manufacture of public consent. A detailed condition report is available upon request.