Never-before-seen photos of Banksy painting his biggest ever artwork have emerged – taken long before he was a household name. The elusive artist painted the side of a 17-tonne circus lorry at a party near Malaga in Spain in 2000 – before he became more secretive.
Later called The Turbozone Truck, it went up for auction with a guide price of £1m to £1.5m after it was authenticated by his studio. Now photos have emerged of him working on the art after they were rediscovered by a fellow partygoer who says he spoke to the artist at the time.
The photographer – who wishes to remain anonymous – snapped the photos at around 6am on New Year’s Day in 2000 after a party in the Alpujarras mountains in southern Spain. The photographer said: “I used to spend a lot of time in Bristol.
“Our friends told us about this party that was going on in Spain and we thought why not? At the time we were very aware of Banksy’s stuff when it was popping up, but he was still quite under the radar.
“Then we were at the party and saw this guy painting – the three of us just turned to each other and said it’s got to be Banksy! Little did we know at the time he would go on to become one of the most famous artists in the world.”
The photographer then says he approached the man and asked him if he was the elusive street artist, and says the man confirmed he was Banksy. He said: “It wasn’t much of a conversation – I remember we said how we’d seen some of his work in Bristol, as far as I remember, he had been flown over from Bristol.”
The artwork was officially titled “The Turbozone Truck (Laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge)” and is thought to be the largest-ever work created by Banksy. In 2019 it was put up for auction with a guide price of £1.5 million but failed to sell.
The lorry featuring Banksy’s artwork spent years travelling throughout Europe and as far away as South America as part of the transport for Turbozone’s Cinderella show. It is also featured in Banksy’s official book, Wall and Piece, which was published in 2006 and authenticated by the artist via his studio, Pest Control.
