Banksy comes home for Bristol show
The world's most famous living artist is coming home. Banksy has sneaked his biggest ever UK exhibition into Bristol.
The Bristol Evening Post can reveal that the mysterious artist, best known for his subversive stencil graffiti work, has taken over much of Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery.
People have already started queuing to get a first look at the exhibition.
Speaking exclusively to the Bristol Evening Post, Banksy said: "The people of Bristol have always been very good to me – I decided the best way to show my appreciation was by putting a bunch of old toilets and some live chicken nuggets in their museum.
"I could have taken the show to a lot of places, but they do a very nice cup of tea in the museum."
Banksy's Summer Show, entitled Banksy vs Bristol Museum, opens to the public tomorrow, and will run for three months. Admission will be free.
The surprise show will come as a shock to the city, as sources close to the elusive artist have revealed that just half a dozen people knew of Banksy's plans.
Speculation began among Banksy's online followers earlier this week, after the artist replaced his official website with a single unsavoury image of an ice cream cone dropped in a pile of dog mess. Above the image was the simple message "Banksy Summer Show Opens June 13."
The show is expected to feature a range of different media – including sculpture, oil paintings, installations and animatronics, as well as stencil work.
The Bristol-born artist, who has never revealed his true identity, has become an iconic figure among the artistic community since his first pieces of graffiti appeared in the late 1980s.
His work, highly charged with a caustic, political sense of humour, soon gathered an enormous following.
Many of his most iconic pieces of graffiti have become landmarks in Bristol – from the distinctive Mild, Mild West mural in Stokes Croft, to the naked adulterer apparently hanging from a window on the wall of a sexual health clinic in Park Street.
But this exhibition will be the greatest gift he could have presented to his home city. It is likely to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Bristol throughout the summer. The last comparable show, held in a Los Angeles warehouse in 2006, lasted for just three days. That show attracted a host of Hollywood stars, all keenly clutching their chequebooks.
Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a Lesbian and two prints for £25,000. None of the works in the Bristol exhibition will be for sale.
In May last year, Banksy hosted an exhibition in London called The Cans Festival, which took over a tunnel formerly used by Eurostar beneath Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn't cover anyone else's.
But the artist's most distinctive show to date took place last October, when he took over a New York pet shop. In the window he placed a realistic-looking leopard, which on closer inspection turned out to be an ingeniously-folded leopard-skin coat.
Other animatronic animals in the show included hot dogs, fish fingers swimming in a tank, and "snakes", which on closer inspection were strings of sausages.
Banksy personally requested that news of his latest show should be revealed in his home city's local newspaper.
We have also been offered an exclusive sneak preview of the show today, ahead of its opening. There will be more pictures to follow, and don't miss your copy of the Bristol Evening Post tomorrow.
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by Steve, BRISTOL
Thursday, July 30 2009, 3:00PM
“Ironic that BCC can spend tens of thousands of pounds supporting and promoting the illegal graffiti artist Banksy while at the same time threatening Bristol club owners and gig prmoters with legal action over flypostering. Students contribute tens of millions of pounds to the Bristol economy. Much of this goes directly to BCC in the form of business rates and council tax. Surely BCC can redirect some of this money to supporting the creative output of Bristol¿s young people instead of threatening and harassing them? It wouldn¿t cost that much to put up official poster boards or just pay a street cleaner some overtime? Doesn¿t the Banksy example show its better to facilitate the culture of young people than to try and trample on it?”
by Steve, BRISTOL
Thursday, July 30 2009, 2:45PM
“Strange that BCC is hapy to spend tens of thousands of pouds promoting and supporting the illegal grafitti artist 'Banksy' while at the same time threatening Bristol clubs with prosecution over flyposters advertising gigs and events. Students and young people generate millions of pounds for the Bristol economy. Much of this is directly paid to BCC in business rates by the hard working legal businesses that exist to serve the entertainment requirements of Bristol's young people. If BCC cans spend thousands on Banksy then they can spend a bit putting up proper poster boards or give a street cleaner some overtime. Surely it is better to co-operate and support Bristol's lively club scene rather than threaten and harass it?”
by m, Downend
Wednesday, June 24 2009, 1:08AM
“Fantastic stuff. Well done one and all for this.
Bristol at last gets world recognition with visitors flying in from USA, Japan and all over.
Now lets keep it up for the World Cup !
Go Brizz”
by Mike, Bristol
Sunday, June 21 2009, 6:39AM
“At last art with a sense of humour and irony is as highly regarded as the pretentios intellectual self indulgent nonsense seen in some elitist galleries. Thanks Banksy for breaking the mould and turning it on its head. I especially like the fish finger and sausages artworks that will hopefully devalue the regard to which Damien Hirst's art is held in. Nice one ! and keep on doing it !”
by WOOD-E?, BRISTOL
Friday, June 19 2009, 6:49PM
“I can personally say i love banksys work irony fun distateful humor and such .a lot of people say oh no vandal .........how many say this ..judging by the ques for it many are out to make them self herd , but i bet haf of them go ,for the reason they are curious as to what it is after all i did kill the cat BANKSY you have the upmost respect from me ,love your work art is art in no matter what form .venus demilo. lady with no arms and bearing her breasts art or distastefull . you decide. . . . its all art no matter what any one says each to there own agree to disagree. WOOD-E~?”
by Sam, San Francisco
Saturday, June 13 2009, 2:19PM
“It's been two years since I've been able to visit my home town but I have flights booked for August and I am so excited that my visit coincides with this exhibition. Bristol's museum has always been full of intriguing childhood memories for me and it's a great opportunity to remember them. I particularly love how Banksy has reportedly done some fun things with the taxidermy exhibition, as that part of the museum was always my favourite. Additionally, I'll be able to take my niece and museum-detesting nephew who'll be visiting at the same time as me and give them some quirky memories and an alternative idea about the possibilities of the museum concept. I think this is great for Bristol. It puts you on the world wide stage. It makes me proud of the place I was born.”
by Malcy, Yate
Friday, June 12 2009, 9:32PM
“Mike- a nasty BNP racist who offers double standards and a strange breed of Christianity who has expressed dislike for poor people and ethnic minorities.
Banksy- a world reknowned artist who does graffiti, sculpture and painting expressing clever political views and brightens up some local buildings and increases their value.
Which one is better for Bristol?
I will go to this exhibit. I hope to see Mike there and I will put a canvas somewhere inconveinient for him!”
by irene, glasgow
Friday, June 12 2009, 8:31PM
“I for one will definitely be paying a visit to the museum this summer. Banksy is an artist, not a vandal, and its great to see the city are celebrating his talent by letting him use the museum. I wish he would come to Glasgow and make some of our scabby looking old buildings look as good as what hes done in Bristol city centre!”
by Mike, Bristol
Friday, June 12 2009, 8:23PM
“Surely the first paragraph should read 'The world's most infamous living vandal is coming home.'”
by Base-killer!, Brizz,
Friday, June 12 2009, 6:42PM
“M-KNOWLE, GET A LIFE...”