About this artwork

First seen on Chiswell Street in London, Get Out While You Can is a part of the Placard Rat Series. The rat represents the common people who face injustice. It also reveals the cruel truth about how the "rat race"in modern society affects all of us. We're obsessed with status and materiality, thinking that this will bring us happiness. George Marshall's famous book "Get Out While You can: Escape the Rat Race" was the primary inspiration. "I'd been painting rats for three years before someone said, "That's clever. It's an anagram of art and I had to pretend I'd known that all along." - Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005)