This work depicts a CCTV surveillance post placed within a pastoral landscape taken from a traditional oil painting. The stark juxtaposition between modern surveillance technology and the classical idyll creates the playful tension at the heart of Banksy’s tongue-in-cheek style.

The piece belongs to Banksy’s celebrated Crude Oils series, in which he “hijacks” traditional oil paintings by inserting his stencilled motifs into Old Masters. Through this strategy, Banksy delivers sharp social commentary with subversive humour, addressing contemporary concerns within the framework of historical art.

The series references the concept of the readymade, pioneered by Marcel Duchamp, as well as Pop Art’s interest in mass production and appropriation. Works from Crude Oils have been displayed in respected institutions worldwide, including the Louvre, Tate, the British Museum, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.