Trolleys
In his Trolleys prints, Banksy portrays three caveman-like "hunters", complete with spears, stalking a herd of shopping trolleys. Self-sufficiency is defunct in a Western society ruled by consumerism, and Banksy's "Trolleys" critiques our naivety by underlining this fact.
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Meaning & Analysis
A biting critique of mankind’s subjection to capitalist consumerism in the contemporary age, Banksy’s Trolley Hunters was first produced in 2005 for his Barely Legal show. The print depicts three cavemen bearing primitive weapons; in poised, crouched positions, they are shown hunting not for wild animals, but for a herd of supermarket trolleys.
The artwork was released in various editions. The first, produced in 2005, was titled Trolley Hunters Los Angeles Edition (Black & White); it comprised 150 signed and 500 unsigned prints. Trolleys was also a part of Banksy’s Barely Legal Print Set - a series of six prints that included the works Applause, Festival, Grannies, Morons and Sale Ends. Initially, these works were sold for $500 a piece.
In 2007, Trolleys was re-released by London-based print house Pictures on Walls in three different formats: 750 signed colour prints in a blue and yellow colourway were issued alongside 500 unsigned white prints and 150 signed white prints. The UK release of Trolleys differs slightly from the LA edition: in its original, Modern Multiples version, the caveman on the right of the image holds a hammer made from wood and complete with a pointed piece of stone. The later Pictures On Walls edition, by contrast, shows the man holding a spear.
In 2007, Banksy made a special edition of Trolleys for his Santa's Ghetto pop-up shop in Bethlehem, held in the same year. Trolley Hunters (Bethlehem Edition) was released as 28 signed editions and printed on packaging paper.
