Unveiled at Banksy’s 2003 exhibition Crude Oils, Grin Reaper shows the figure of Death holding a scythe, his skull replaced by a bright yellow smiley face. Combining the sinister with the absurd, the work satirises mortality and pop culture, using the iconic acid-house smiley to question how symbols of joy and dread coexist in contemporary life.

It first appeared in 2003 as part of Banksy’s provocative exhibition Crude Oils: A Gallery of Remixed Masterpieces and Monkey Drawings in London. The piece depicts the Grim Reaper with a bright yellow acid-house style smiley face in place of the traditional skull. Painted on cardboard with Banksy’s dripping stencil technique and tagged with his name, the work blends humour and menace, mocking the inevitability of death while referencing rave culture and its iconography.