After several tumultuous years, the former Banksy associate Steve Lazarides saw the writing on the wall. Between the challenges of the pandemic, the escalating cost of living, mental health struggles and a weighty financial setback from his now-defunct manufacturing company, Lazarides suddenly found himself longing to reclaim his first love, photography.

To dedicate himself to his craft fully, he is selling his one-of-a-kind collection of Banksy artwork and artifacts. “This has been a large part of my life for the last 25 years, whether I was working with him or not,” Lazarides said over a Zoom call from London last week. “I just want it out of my in-tray and to go back to concentrating on taking photographs again.”

It’s not that Lazarides hasn’t spent time behind the lens over the last two and a half decades. In 2019 he published Banksy Captured, a behind the scenes chronicle of Banksy as told through Lazarides’s photos and anecdotes, followed by a second volume a year later. Still, Lazarides says: “I never got the time to put into photography that I really wanted to so that’s where I’m at now. I’m also currently editing through a couple hundred thousand images that I shot in a pre-Banksy time.”

To clear his plate, Lazarides has enlisted the help of Julien’s Auctions, where the aptly titled Under Duress: The Banksy Archive of Steve Lazarides is set to go live today at Julien’s Los Angeles-based warehouse and online.

Featuring original artwork, including a painting of Hooded Figure, a hand-cut stencil of Drill Rat, and a drawing of Burning Police Car, and more than 40 prints, including Rude Copper, Love Is In The Air (AKA Flower Thrower), and Bomb Hugger, the trove also offers a glimpse into Banksy’s creative process with concept sketches of Paparazzi Rat and Every Time I Make Love To You, I Think of Someone Else. The diversity of miscellaneous items ranges from a 2002 original domain name registration certificate to limited edition Puma Clydes worn by Banksy at his 2003 Turf War exhibition.

Lazarides first met Banksy in 1997 in Bristol, where he was sent by the London-based magazine Sleazenation to photograph and interview the street artist. “I saw his shit on the street and it fucking blew me away. It was totally different from any other shit I was seeing,” Lazarides says. “That stencil thing, it was political, cheeky and funny. And he could put it in insane places that you couldn’t really get with a full piece of graffiti.” From there, their connection quickly evolved, with Lazarides soon after becoming Banksy’s agent, manager and gallerist.

As close as they were, though, Lazarides says their relationship wasn’t always easy. He describes working with Banksy as “full tilt” and notes the prolific artist’s unrelenting pace made their dynamic “very intense”. Nonetheless, Lazarides admires Banksy’s dedication to his art, calling him “the real deal”. He recalls with a warm smile occasions when they would meet for drinks, and Banksy would slip outside to tag the bar, returning swiftly, and smelling like spray paint, before their pints were even served.

By 2008, however, the demanding 24/7 gig had taken its toll on Lazarides. “Banksy’s a full-time job, and I wanted to look after other artists, so he went his way, and I went mine,” he says. Thereafter, and up until last year, Lazarides worked as an art dealer, gallerist and art promoter.

He grew disillusioned, however, by the commercialization of art. “‘How much is it, and how much will it be worth in three years?’ That’s all it was,” he says lamenting the art inquiries he fielded regularly. “That’s the trouble with the whole art world at the moment.” It marks a stark contrast from his origins with Banksy. “He never went into it for money. We didn’t even know you could make money,” he says. “It wasn’t fine art. This was on the streets for everybody.”

Still, Lazarides stands to make a lot of money from today’s auction, which is estimated to yield $1-2m. A circa 2004 print of Banksy’s iconic artwork Girl with Balloon, which will kick off Thursday’s auction, has already attracted an offer of $60,000 in early bidding online. Ironically, Lazarides loathes the globally beloved masterpiece. “I can’t stand the Girl with Balloon print,” he says. “Everybody thinks this is a happy scene, and I’m like: ‘Nah, it’s a little girl losing her heart. Where do you see happiness in that, you sick motherfucker?’ There is no happiness in it.”

However, Lazarides lauds the infamous shredding of a 2006 Girl with Balloon painting, which, orchestrated by Banksy, self-destructed in its canvas at a Sotheby’s auction in 2018, just after it was sold for more than $1m. “That, alone, earns Banksy a place in art history,” Lazarides says. “I think it’s one of the strongest pieces of performance art I’ve seen in fucking years. It was bold and provocative, and it took planning.” Three years later, the shredded remains, which Banksy named Love Is In The Bin, sold for $25.4m at Sotheby’s.

Despite the notorious prank, Lazarides says Banksy “seems to be pretty supportive of this [auction], which I am very happy about”. How does he know that he has Banksy’s blessing? Averting his eyes, Lazarides turns evasive. “Ah, you know, just through them vibes coming through the sky,” he says, before breaking into a grin with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

However, Lazarides readily offers that he last saw Banksy “disappearing through the crowd at a Massive Attack gig”. For years, there has been speculation that Banksy is the Bristol band’s singer, Robert Del Naja, who is also a graffiti artist known as 3D. However, per the rumor mill, Gorillaz founder Jamie Hewlett, who co-created the Tank Girl comic, is also a potential Banksy frontrunner, as is the artist Robin Gunningham. Still, others theorize that Banksy is a pseudonym comprising a collective of artists. Lazarides remains mum but estimates that he’s been asked 100,000 times to reveal the mysterious artist’s identity. What’s more, he shares that “a big American art dealer”, whose name he also keeps secret, once made him an offer of $10,000 to blow Banksy’s cover.

Lazarides’s commitment to protecting Banksy’s anonymity is reflected by a set of 15 burner cell phones that are also up for grabs at today’s auction. Every couple of weeks, Lazarides, who says he “ran a fucking tight ship”, would purchase a new cell phone with cash, and meet Banksy at a church in order to swap his phone, with each new phone number kept private between them.

On the verge of relinquishing such notable memorabilia, personal artifacts and legendary artworks, one might wonder whether Lazarides will be struck with seller’s remorse post-auction. But he stresses that he is neither prone to nostalgia nor dwelling in the past. “I’ve kept a couple of bits that were directed at me, like angry notes that I’d find stuck to my computer screen in the morning with gaffer tape,” Lazarides says. “But I don’t need 1,000 prints to prove I worked with Banksy. It’s done.”