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Artworks
Banksy
Radar Rat, 2002
Spray paint on canvas
25 x 20 cm.
9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.
9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.
From a series
Unsigned, tagged in red along right overlap
From a series, left facing rat
Framed
Excellent condition
Pest Control COA
From a series, left facing rat
Framed
Excellent condition
Pest Control COA
£250,000 - £300,000 GBP
"Radar Rat" by Banksy offers a raw and arresting visual commentary on surveillance culture and resistance, capturing both the rebellious spirit and the incisive critique that have come to define the artist's legacy. In this piece, a solitary rat—one of Banksy’s most iconic symbols of social commentary—operates a handheld radar device. The rat, stencilled in black, is intently focused, wielding its radar like a soldier with a weapon, while bursts of red spray radiate outward, simulating the radar's searching pulse.
At the heart of "Radar Rat" is the rat itself, a motif Banksy frequently revisits, symbolising the underdog, the outsider, and the resilient survivor of urban environments. Rats in his work represent those who exist in society's shadows, overlooked yet resilient, capable of thriving in harsh conditions. Here, the rat with its radar becomes both a figure of defiance and a kind of anti-hero, a “watcher” in an age where surveillance has transformed from an institution-led phenomenon to a societal reflex. With this, Banksy suggests that even the marginalised are implicated in the network of watching and being watched, highlighting the breakdown of privacy in contemporary life.
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