Banksy in Glasgow

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Are you familiar with the artist Banksy? He's kind of famous for being anonymous, showing up in random places around the world, adding his creative work to public spaces under the cover of darkness and leaving his mark on that community, and ultimately on the world.

His work is certainly thought-provoking. Sure, some folks might think he's more of a graffiti artist, and I get that. At first glance, it appears to be so. As someone who has traveled enough around the world, and even in my own country, I've seen enough graffiti to tell you, it's an eyesore. It's destructive to the property, defacing surfaces all over, whether a wall, a fence or some random gate somewhere. Most of the time when I see it, I cringe. It just looks like vandalism. And personally, as a pretty good rule follower, it's gross. So to be totally enamored, engaged and 100% impressed with Banky's work, there must be something there.

Here we are in central Glasgow at one of Banksy's original still-standing original pieces, which advertises his exhibition at the GOMA

And here we are out front of the GOMA at the Duke of Wellington statue: another of Banksy's works; the construction cone has been placed on the Duke's head for the past 40 years regardless of the hundreds of times it has been removed by officials. Thus, Banksy chose this venue to go public with his collection.

At 7:15PM, we began our journey through the Banksy exhibit, "Cut and Run" at the GOMA. From the moment we entered, we were totally impressed. He designed and curated the whole exhibit, and I gotta say, good for him. It was funny, personable and thought-provoking. He tends to examine the world around him, looking for every day items that he then adds his own spin to.

For example, there was a 2 panel scene with the lower panel showing an actual mattress sitting on the ground somewhere, clearly thrown out. Banksy chose to paint a man pole-vaulting onto that mattress on the wall behind the mattress. What a brilliant idea! Instead of observing a discarded, old mattress, he sees a new purpose and adds value to that which would otherwise be tossed out. Not graffiti, which typically tends towards someone's "autograph". Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned in this.

We continued on through the exhibit, spending nearly 2 hours observing his creativity. The world is definitely his canvas. Probably one of his most famous moments came when he "auctioned" an artwork, only for it to be "shredded" the moment the buyer spent a whole lot of money on it.

John and I loved reading through his thought process on this project. He employed a great partner to engineer the whole thing and we were thoroughly impressed. Even if we don't necessarily agree with his motive (to which, I'm still not 100% sure what it is), he definitely used his creative mind to set the world on notice. If you're not familiar with his work, I urge you to check it out. You won't be disappointed.

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/entertainment/celebrities/2023/06/22/banksy-exhibit-glasgow-gallery-modern-art/12148568002/