"A day late! Six million bucks short!" are some lyrics you could sing if you happen to be in the market for a piece of Banksy art originally owned by a Blink-182 member. Mark Hoppus is selling a painting by the anonymous street artist from his personal collection, with some of the proceeds going towards wildfire relief in Los Angeles, where Hoppus' family splits their time.
The piece in question is “Crude Oil (Vettriano)," and will be going up for auction through Sotheby’s auction house in London next month. It's from a 2005 collection Banksy did satirizing more traditional paintings; this one is a spin on Jack Vettriano's "The Singing Butler," in which a couple dances on a beach while a butler holds an umbrella over them. In Banksy's interpretation, he's added an oil tanker sinking in the background and two hazmat-suited people lifting toxic waste out of the water. Hoppus and his wife bought the piece in 2011: “I feel like street art and punk rock have the same core,” the musician recently told AP. "It’s the same spirit. And I’ve loved art and especially street art ever since realizing that.”
Hoppus will donate some of the money from the auction to the California Fire Foundation, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Cedars Sinai Hematology Oncology Research. He added that the rest of the funds will go towards growing his art collection with pieces from up-and-coming artists much less famous than Banksy.
Banksy’s ‘Crude Oil (Vettriano)’ from the collection of blink-182’s @markhoppus will headline the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction at #SothebysLondon on 4 March.
Come see this rare, entirely hand-painted work on view at #SothebysNewYork today through 20 February, before… pic.twitter.com/D0Ih6FExhl
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) February 18, 2025
Also this week Hoppus announced a spring book tour for his memoir Fahrenheit-182.
