Corrupted Oil - Jerry, also called Crude Oil Jerry, is a 2003 artwork by graffiti artist Banksy, using stencil of a cartoon mouse character Jerry on an oil painting.
It was valued by English antiques expert and television presenter Jonty Hearnden at £150,000 in 2014, which was a rise in value of 30 times what the owner originally paid.
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Exhibitions
The work was first seen in one of Banksy's first major exhibitions Turf War in 2003. It has been displayed in the Moco Museum of Amsterdam since 2016.
Culture
In a 2024 BBC Culture analysis, American art critic Kelly Grovier argues that Banksy's Crude Oil Jerry (2003) exposes the romanticized falsehoods of John Constable's The Hay Wain (1821), revealing it as a "tinder-dry lie" in the face of industrialization. By adding the cartoon character Jerry Mouse holding a lit match to the pastoral scene, Banksy critiques the enduring, deceptive ideal of the British countryside, according to the article.