Another classic Banksy image, the monkey/chimpanzee with sandwich board, looking depressed, dejected, and sullen, carries an important message. ‘Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge’. 

Perhaps directly highlighting animal cruelty, or perhaps again, illuding to the ape representing the average subservient person, the artwork carries the threat of an uprising against the tyranny of oppression and the suppression of capitalism. The image and messaging is strong, encapsulating Banksy’s borrowed quote, ‘Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable’.

Banksy’s monkey/chimpanzee with sandwich board first appeared in 2002, and in 2003 the now defunct Ocean Rooms nightclub in Brighton, commissioned the artist to stencil ten of these chimps across the bar’s back wall – the artwork stretched across for six metres.

In 2008, the ape featured on DJ Dangermouse’s LP on the front and back cover with the phrases, ‘Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge’ and the reverse side with the more light-hearted words, ‘keep it real’. 

The LP was produced as a limited edition of 1,000 copies in four different screen-print colours: Silver, Bronze, Gold, and Olive.