On 8th September 2025, Banksy’s mural outside the Royal Courts of Justice made headlines. A judge in full robes striking a protester: bold, visceral, and timed just days after mass arrests in London. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was covered and cordoned off, a vivid reminder of how street art is as fleeting as the news cycle itself.
Graeme Wilcox’s The Jury, painted before this, resonates with the same themes of justice and authority but in an altogether different register. Wilcox’s subject matter is almost always the human figure, shown in moments of reflection or emotion. Many of his recent paintings are re-imaginings of people or events seen as he journeys through the city, distilling fleeting encounters into lasting images.
In The Jury, figures are absorbed in deliberation, their expressions shadowed with responsibility and doubt. Unlike Banksy’s mural, which confronts us with sudden violence, Wilcox’s work invites a slow, contemplative engagement. Both hold up a mirror to society: one with urgency and ephemerality, the other with reflection and permanence.
And permanence matters. Where Banksy cannot remain on a wall, Wilcox’s canvases endure and can be collected, exhibited, and discussed in galleries or homes. 2025 has seen his presence in major exhibitions underlines this significance:
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Listener, selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (17 June – 17 August 2025)
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Strange Weather, on show at the RSA Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh (until 2 July 2025)
Together, Banksy and Wilcox show how artists mimic and interpret the world around them. One shouts in stencil and spray, the other whispers in brushstroke and shadow, but both capture the questions of judgment, protest, and human complexity that define our times.
* Explore this new work to EzelDotz by Graeme Wilcox and other collectable contemporary artists on EzelDotz.
