LOS ANGELES, CA.- Street Art’s seismic superstars known by their one name–Banksy, Basquiat and RETNA–led Julien's event “URBAN LEGENDS.” Seventy masterworks by the most famous and disruptive modern street artists in the world that included Invader and Kenny Scharf went under the hammer today Thursday, February 25, 2025 at Julien’s Studios, along with hundreds of bidders and collectors from around the world participating online at Julien’s Auctions.
One of Banksy’s rarest, surviving works from his German tour of 2003-2004 (prior to the formation of Pest Control) "TV Girl" was the top seller fetching $222,250. His three-color aerosol stencil and freehand work depicting a young girl embracing a television set with an orange heart on the screen was executed by the elusive British street art legend on the door panels of a transformer box originally located on the corner of Gipsstrasse and Joachimstrasse in Berlin-Mitte.
Following Banksy was Los Angeles based legend Retna’s signed "Song of The Opera" large-scale painting featuring his distinct long, geometric script and mysterious shapes that sold for $65,000.
Two giants from the New York City Street Art scene of the 1980s loomed large at today’s auction. A Blondie band-signed 1980 European tour program with an original Jean-Michel Basquiat sketch signed by the street art legend sold for $52,000 over ten times the original estimate of $5,000. The program was signed by Basquiat and the band during the video-shoot for the group’s single, “The Hardest Part” which featured the band performing in front of a wall covered with graffiti art executed by Basquiat, Lee Quinones, and Fab 5 Freddy. Abstract Pop Surrealist master Kenny Scharf "Gatescapes," his aerosol spray-paint mural conceived on the roll-up security gate of the M.J. Cahn Company building on West 27th Street in Manhattan, New York, as part of the 2012 Gatescapes street mural project brought in $50,800, well over its estimate of $20,000.
Twelve of French enfant terrible Invader’s most popular mosaics from around the world captivated the auction block including two that took a bite out of the Big Apple (with winning bids): Invader’s glow-in-the-dark tiled alien figure “NY_126” executed on the corner of a building at the intersection of Rivington Street and Allen Street above the entrance to The Marshall Stack bar ($38,100) and “NY_133” executed on the side of a building at the intersection of 9th Avenue and West 14th Street ($31,750) in New York City; as well as several of his most famous works from France: “PA_520” executed on one of the arches of the railroad viaduct in Nogent Sur Marne, France (Viaduc de Nogent-sur-Marne), near 46 Rue Jacques Kable ($16,250); “PA_744,” executed on the side of La Bellevilloise at 25 Rue Boyer in Paris ($25,400); and “CAZ_11” executed on the outer wall of the Antibes Train Station (Gare d’Antibes) in Antibes, France ($31,750).
