Banksy - Save or Delete Jungle Book - 2002

Rare and superb lithograph by the famous British artist Banksy "Save or Delete - Jungle Book"\n\nBanksy x Greenpeace\nSave or Delete - Jungle Book\nOffset lithograph\n42cm x 59cm approx.\nLimited edition\nSigned on the plate\nNew and never exhibited\nCareful shipping, tracked and insured\nFrame not included\n\nAn opportunity to acquire a Banksy collectible whose value continues to rise.\n\nCreated in 2001, “Save or Delete Jungle Book” is one of Banksy’s first collaborations with an international humanitarian organization. Commissioned by Greenpeace for its “Save or Delete” campaign against illegal logging and tropical deforestation, this work testifies to the artist’s extraordinary ability to pair instantly recognizable pop images with a powerful political message.\n\nBanksy appropriates the iconic characters from Disney’s Jungle Book, placing Mowgli, Baloo, King Louie and Shere Khan, eyes bound and tied, before an executioner in the middle of the stumps of a devastated forest. Stripped of their carefree innocence, these childhood icons become silent victims of environmental destruction, transforming one of the world’s most famous animated films into a powerful allegory of extinction.\n\nThe genius of this composition lies in its troubling reversal of expectations. The Jungle Book has long celebrated the richness and harmony of the natural world, yet Banksy imagines its protagonists after the forest’s disappearance. No more lush vegetation, no more adventure, no more refuge: only bare tree stumps and an executioner waiting.\n\nThe eye bands are particularly poignant. Neither the animals nor Mowgli can see what awaits them, reflecting humanity’s tendency to ignore the long-term consequences of environmental degradation until it becomes irreversible. Banksy suggests that deforestation not only destroys trees; it erases entire ecosystems, cultures, and narratives that have shaped our collective imagination.\n\nThe original painting was intended to be paired with a photograph of a devastated tropical forest for Greenpeace’s “Save or Delete” campaign. Posters, postcards, and billboards were produced, but the campaign was never disseminated to the general public, Disney having opposed the unauthorized use of its copyrighted characters.\n\nThis unexpected censorship has become part of the artwork’s history. Ironically, a campaign aimed at defending threatened forests became a victim of competing legal and commercial interests. This episode illustrates one of Banksy’s recurring concerns: the complex relationship between political activism, corporate power, and freedom of expression.\n\nAlthough created at the very beginning of Banksy’s career, “Save or Delete Jungle Book” anticipates many themes that would later become central in his work. His appropriation of Disney imagery prefigures famous works such as “Napalm” and the dystopian vision of “Dismaland,” while his environmental message resonates with later projects like “Season’s Greetings,” “Show Me the Monet,” and numerous murals addressing climate change and ecological collapse. This work is also one of the earliest examples of Banksy using universally recognizable cultural icons to communicate complex political ideas, a strategy that would become one of his most distinctive signatures.\n\n“Save or Delete the Jungle Book” perfectly illustrates Banksy’s ability to transform nostalgia into political awareness. By placing some of the world’s most beloved fictional characters in a deserted landscape, he reminds us that environmental destruction is not an abstract ecological problem, but a human tragedy that threatens the stories, symbols, and natural world we all share. More than twenty years after its creation, this work remains one of Banksy’s most impactful environmental manifestos – a rare youthful masterpiece where satire gives way to contained urgency, and where childhood innocence becomes the most powerful plea for a disappearing planet.\n\nUndoubtedly the world’s most controversial street artist. Banksy’s art can impact anywhere, at any time. His identity remains unknown, even after more than 20 years on the graffiti scene. His work includes numerous powerful and often controversial images, and they can also be found online as viral images. Banksy began his graffiti art after admiring Blek le Rat’s work and often recycling his old ideas. Banksy hails from the same wave of urban artists as JonOne, Kaws, Seen, JR, M.Chat, Imbue, Pantone, Basquiat, Banksy, Arsham, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Obey, Invader, Futura, Jeff Koons, Dface.\n\nBorn apparently in 1975 in Britain, he actually begins his graffiti work within the Bristol-based DrybreadZ Crew (DBZ). A revolutionary and subversive artist, Banksy uses his art as a true means of communication to proclaim his dismay, his discontent, his sadness, or his revolt. Each of the artist’s visits to a city is a true event and generates media buzz. Banksy uses stencils to design his creations, each meticulously crafted and detailed to give his works depth and a soul that only he possesses. The artist wishes to remain anonymous, reflecting graffiti as a hidden art that is practiced in secret and not discovered until dawn.\nTag\nStreet Art, Pop Art, Urban Art, Contemporary Art, JonOne, Cope2, M.Chat, Shepard Fairey, Obey, Invader, C215, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, André Saraiva, Mr A, Chanoir, Angel 41, Vhils, Bearbrick, Kidrobot, Karl Lagasse, JR, Blek Le Rat, Swoon, Faile, D*Face, Dface, Retna, Mr Brainwash, Jef Aérosol, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Dran, Seth, Miss Tic, Speedy Graphito, L’Atlas, Rero, Zepha, Combo, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Richard Orlinski, Cleon Peterson, KAWS, Daniel Arsham, Futura 2000, Kenny Scharf, Hush, Okuda, Felipe Pantone, Bordalo II.