Love Is In The Air
Known to almost everyone as the Flower Thrower. A cornerstone image with an unusually clean structure — a signed edition, an unsigned edition, and comparatively few complications — which makes it a good place to learn how this market prices things.
Pictures on Walls · 2003
Edition summary
| Year | 2003 |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Flower Thrower; Rage, Flower Thrower |
| Publisher | Pictures on Walls |
| Medium | Screenprint on paper |
| Signed edition | Reported as 150 |
| Unsigned edition | Reported as 500 |
| Note | The image was used on the cover of Wall and Piece, which broadened its recognition considerably |
| Authentication | Pest Control certificate required to transact |
Unverified — Edition figures are compiled from publicly circulated references and have not been verified against primary records.
A clean image to price, and a difficult one to condition-check
With fewer colourway variants than some releases, the main variables here reduce to the familiar three: signed or unsigned, condition, and certificate. That simplicity is why Flower Thrower comparables are relatively easy to read — and why a seller cannot lean on variant confusion to justify a number.
The condition trap is specific to this image. It is heavily framed and heavily displayed, and the large flat areas of grey show light-fading and toning far more plainly than busier compositions do. An example that has hung on a bright wall for a decade can look fine in isolation and obviously tired next to a fresh one.
On naming
You will see this work listed under three names. When comparing prices, make sure you are comparing the same edition and not simply the same picture under a different heading — search results split across the naming variants, which can make the market look thinner or dearer than it is.
Before you buy or sell one
- Compare the greys against a known-good reference image. Fading here is gradual and easy to miss.
- Ask for photographs out of the frame, under raking light, which reveals creasing and undulation.
- Check the sheet dimensions against the published size. Trimming is the one fault you can never undo.
- Confirm the Pest Control certificate corresponds to this edition number specifically.
Keep reading
- Girl with Balloon
- Di-Faced Tenner
- Rude Copper
- What the reported figures actually show
- Pest Control authentication explained
Edition data on this page is unverified as noted above, and no work described here is offered for sale. Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with Banksy, Pest Control, Pictures on Walls or any auction house. Only Pest Control can authenticate a work by Banksy. Nothing here is investment or legal advice.
Own a Flower Thrower? Send three photographs and we will tell you where yours sits.