Blink-182 co-frontman Mark Hoppus is parting with his original painting by street artist Banksy, which is is putting up for auction.
“Crude Oil (Vettriano)" is expected to reach an estimated to fetch around to £5 million pounds ($9 million CAD) at auction, with some of the proceeds to be donated towards helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
The painting, which is a critical depiction of environmental destruction and capitalism, is the anonymous artist's dystopian twist on Jack Vettriano’s The Singing Butler.
“The real damage done to our environment is not done by graffiti writers and drunken teenagers, but by big business… exactly the people who put gold-framed pictures of landscapes on their walls and try to tell the rest of us how to behave,” Banksy said in a 2005 statement.
Banksy first debuted the piece in 2005 at a London exhibition, “Crude Oils: A Gallery of Re-mixed Masterpieces, Vandalism and Vermin,” which caused a media frenzy for featuring 200 live rats and an inspection by environmental health officers.
The painting was original sold at Sotheby’s Hopetoun House sale in 2004 for £744,800 ($1.3 million CAD).
Hoppus, who purchased the painting in 2011 and hung it in both his London and Los Angeles homes, admits he was attracted to the art because of its "subversion, humour and intelligence."
“I feel like street art and punk rock have the same core,” Hoppus told the Associated Press. “The left-out and overlooked making their own reality. … Just go make art. It’s the same spirit. And I’ve loved art and especially street art ever since realizing that. We loved this painting since the moment we saw it.”
Serious buyers can register to bid here.