Banksy in Southampton

For the first time ever, the work of British graffiti artist and anonymous art superstar Banksy is on display at an East End gallery.

When Banksy visits a place, his witty and often caustic social commentary may begin popping up on walls and buildings, and the Hamptons would be the ideal place for the artist to continue his very public satirical attacks on capitalism and injustice. But local police need not worry.

“Banksy—The New King of Pop Art” at Keszler Gallery in Southampton is a secondary market show. Banksy rarely authorizes exhibits of his work in commercial galleries and very few people know his true identity—keeping it secret is no small task, given the media curiosity and the artist’s level of fame.

The show opened Memorial Day weekend and launches the Keszler Gallery’s second year in Southampton. Owner Stephan Keszler noted that Banksy’s smart and edgy prints and stencil paintings are “blue chip” pieces, smashing projections at auction by as much as 20 times the expected price. The artist’s highest recorded sale was $1.8 million at Sotheby’s in New York on February 14, 2008, for “Keep It Spotless,” which features a maid stenciled on one of fellow Brit art star Damien Hirst’s massive pharmaceutical paintings, often referred to as his “dot” pieces.

“He’s the fastest growing artist ever,” Mr. Keszler said. According to the gallery owner, Banksy held his first formal show at a local restaurant in Bristol in 2000 and now his original graffiti work typically sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Keszler Gallery has an array of Banksy’s work, including prints, original paintings, rare original sketches on paper and pieces literally cut out from walls along the streets where he disseminates his subversive message. Banksy’s themes are more often than not politically charged and feature common motifs, including rats, military imagery, policemen, monkeys and children. He also borrows from the work of famous artists and appropriates corporate icons.

In his famous 2004 “Napalm” print, Banksy took Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a 9-year-old South Vietnamese girl running nude after a napalm attack in 1972 and put her in the hands of Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. Each of the corporate mascots holds one of the girl’s outstretched arms, smiling and waving as she screams in terror.

While “Napalm” reflects a decidedly darker irony, most of Banksy’s work is executed with a lighter touch, despite the issues he tackles. “Flower Thrower,” created in 2002, is a stencil of a masked rioter, hand cocked back to throw a Molotov cocktail, but clutching instead a bouquet of flowers. The stencil appeared on the streets of London, but Banksy’s work has appeared as far away as the West Bank in Israel, where he painted nine pieces on the wall in protest of the separation of Palestinian territories. One image depicts the silhouette of a young girl holding a bunch of helium balloons and beginning her ascent over the imposing gray wall, while another creates a trompe l’oeil hole blasted open to reveal a sunny Caribbean paradise on the other side.

“The quality of [Banksy’s] work and the smartness” is what excites Mr. Keszler, he said. He aims to show the work of artists both old and new at his gallery and Banksy is likely very new to the uninitiated on the East End.

The Keszler Gallery is located at 45 Main Street in Southampton, www.keszlergallery.com