Banksy to stage first solo exhibition in 14 years in Glasgow

The graffiti artist Banksy has announced his first official solo exhibition for 14 years.

It will run at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art from Sunday.

The show, which will feature work from right across his career, is called CUT & RUN: 25 years card labour.

Banksy has used original stencils to create new versions of many of his famous works, including Kissing Coppers which first appeared on a wall of the Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004.

Also featured will be Mobile Lovers, from Bristol in 2014, which features a hugging couple who are both looking at their screen over the other’s shoulder.

Banksy previously organised the temporary art project Dismaland in a Somerset resort which closed in 2015 – this was a collaboration of more than 50 artists including Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer and Jimmy Cauty.

The latest show aims to reveal the whole behind-the-scenes process of how his works are made, with original sketches on display as well as the stencils, which have been painted on to give them a new lease of life.

This was not a decision made lightly by Banksy, who has not given a face-to-face interview since 2003 and has never revealed his true identity, but is believed to be around 50 and from the Bristol area.

In a typically self-deprecating statement, he explained: “I’ve kept these stencils hidden away for years, mindful they could be used as evidence in a charge of criminal damage.

“But that moment seems to have passed, so now I’m exhibiting them in a gallery as works of art. I’m not sure which is the greater crime.”

The large exhibition also includes a detailed model explaining exactly how Banksy managed to shred his Girl With Balloon painting during an auction at Sotheby’s in London in 2018.

The work had just been auctioned for £1m, when an alarm went off inside the frame and the picture dropped into a hidden shredder. A malfunction meant that the destruction stopped just over halfway.

Banksy declared that it was now a new piece of work titled Love Is In The Bin and three years later the original buyer sold it for more than 20 times what they had paid for it.

Other exhibits include the Union Flag stab vest worn by Stormzy when he headlined Glastonbury in 2019 and pieces previously only seen in Bethlehem in the West Bank, including a pillow fight between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian citizen.

The artist’s most recent solo show was 2009’s Banksy versus Bristol Museum, which included a burnt-out ice cream van in the main entrance hall, playing out spooky sounds as a giant ice cream melted on its roof.

Banksy has held an exhibition in Glasgow before. He was a relative unknown when in 2001 he jointly put on Peace Is Tough at The Arches venue, with Jamie Reid, famous for his design work with The Sex Pistols.

The event is described as having been poorly attended but did feature early works including Monkey Queen.

He also created a number of stencil-based works around the city, none of which still exist.

The announcement for Banksy’s new show says that “the artist has been plagued by a number of unsanctioned global exhibitions in recent years”, a reference to events such as The Art of Banksy, which are completely unauthorised.

The Art of Banksy, which returns to London in September, describes itself as “the world’s largest collection of original and authenticated Banksy artworks” and states that is has had 1.5 million visitors around the globe.

In a statement Banksy jokes: “While the unauthorised Banksy shows might look like sweepings from my studio floor, CUT & RUN really is the actual sweepings from my studio floor.”

There is a reason why the exhibition is being held at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art.

In a sign welcoming people to the venue, Banksy explains that he brought the show here because his “favourite work of art in the UK” is right outside.

He writes: “For anyone who isn’t aware – the statue out the front has had a cone on its head continuously for the past 40 odd years. Despite the best efforts of the council and the police, every time one is removed another takes its place.”

Banksy is referring to the 1844 statue of the first Duke of Wellington sitting on a horse.

Members of the public have been placing road cones on the statue’s head for more than four decades, making it a Glasgow institution, one which featured in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony when Glasgow hosted the event in 2014.

The Lonely Planet travel guide once included it in a list of the Top 10 most bizarre monuments on earth.

Now that road cone has brought Banksy back to Glasgow.

CUT & RUN is on until 28th August and at weekends will stay open all night. There are plans for the exhibition to tour.