Robert Del Naja (3D) valuation
Painted Bristol's walls as 3D in the 1980s, then co-founded Massive Attack and made its imagery.
Robert Del Naja was born in Brighton in 1965 and grew up in Bristol, where he painted graffiti as 3D in the early 1980s and was part of the Wild Bunch sound-system collective.
What a work by Robert Del Naja (3D) is worth
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation is free, made online from the photographs you send, and it commits you to nothing. We act for sellers across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
Write to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk, or start below.
Bio
Robert Del Naja was born in Brighton in 1965 and grew up in Bristol, where he painted graffiti as 3D in the early 1980s and was part of the Wild Bunch sound-system collective. Out of that circle came Massive Attack, which he co-founded and for which he has made most of the visual identity, from record sleeves to stage production. His stencil and spray work from the Bristol scene is widely credited as an influence on the generation of the city's street artists that followed, and he has continued to paint and exhibit alongside the music.
Prints and editions make up much of what reaches the secondary market, often tied to Massive Attack releases and tours, alongside a smaller number of canvases and works on paper. With music-related material the line between an artwork and merchandise has to be drawn carefully: a signed, numbered edition from a recognised publisher is a different object from a tour poster, even when the image is the same. Edition details, the publisher and any certificate issued with the print are what establish which is which, and signatures on music-related items warrant particular care.
Spraycan Art, Bombin' and Mezzanine
Del Naja's graffiti appeared in Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff's book Spraycan Art in 1987 and in Dick Fontaine's film Bombin', alongside Goldie. He is counted among those who brought hip hop and graffiti culture from the United States to Bristol in the early 1980s, and Banksy has cited him as an influence.
He co-founded Massive Attack with Grant Marshall, Adrian Thaws and Andrew Vowles, and was the main producer of Mezzanine in 1997 and 1998. In 2012 he began the Battle Box, a project of one-off live events, exhibitions and vinyl releases.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.
