Bristol, Banksy and me
All-around talented graffiti artist and rabble-rouser Banksy once wrote "When you go to an art gallery, you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires." Fortunately for his legion of fans, at some point, this viewpoint seems to be have segued into more of an 'if you can't beat them, join 'em" approach, albeit, one with a decidedly Banksy-ian twist. In the past years, he has begun surreptitiously placing his works in such well-known museums as the Met, the Tate and NY's Museum of Natural History.
He claims it is simply a short-cut to the time consuming process of having his work accepted by the museum. Now, in conjunction with some very publicity-savvy curators, he has temporarily taken over the Bristol City Museum and made it his own. From the museum's own account, a Banksy representative approached them with the offer of an exhibition funded entirely by the artist and presented as a gift to his hometown. In exchange, they had to agree to preserve his anonymity. Visitors and employees alike were told that the museum would be closed two weeks for filming and it was not until the project had been completed that a press release heralding the show was issued.
This famous Banksy stencil appears on the wall of Bristol's sexual health clinic. The city's residents voted in favor of keeping it by a 97% margin.
I have been an admirer of Banksy's work for awhile and have spent quite a bit of time searching through the streets of several cities trying to find his pieces. Often, whether either due to my poor sense of direction or a city council's decision to remove what it views as vandalism, I have been unsuccessful in finding what I am looking for.
Therefore, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to see an exhibition entitled "Banksy v. Bristol Museum", even if it meant that I had to go to some corner of south-western England to do so. Luckily, with cheap-o EasyJet offering direct flights from Amsterdam, my current home, this was not as difficult as it seemed. Nor was actually getting into the exhibition itself.
I had already been warned of waiting times exceeding 4 hours, but by arriving at 8:30am for a 10am opening, I was the seventh person in line and was even able to wait under the building's overhang during Bristol's perpetual rain. Once inside, there were so many things to love about the show. One room was full of animatronic creatures asking the viewer to examine the provenance of the food that we eat. There was a mother hen looking over her chicken nugget offspring and fish sticks 'swimming' around a fish tank.
The same room featured a bunny rabbit tarted up and surrounded by the beauty products so often used in insidious and needless animal testing. Coming from me, this work was clearly preaching to the choir but the diversity of the crowd that had been drawn to the show was pretty startling. Next was the main exhibition hall featuring paintings, sculptures and stencils speaking to common Banksy themes such as the commercialism of art, the corrupting power of authority and the relationship between the west and developing nations.
While some of the themes are bleak and the over-all look of the room can best be described as post-apocalyptic, the underlying humor and playfulness on display tended to blunt the hard edges and keep the work from being overly didactic. But where I feel the show truly succeeded was in its very random placement of works throughout all of the rest of the galleries in the three story museum.
Satires of classic works were interspersed with actual classic works, forcing the viewer to look at the collection with a more sceptical and questioning eye, not merely accepting everything at its face value. There was no guide or program leading to his works, all of which were simply credited to "A Local Artist".
One had to carefully examine each room scavenger-hunt style. Some works were whimsical such as one of Jean-Francois Millet's field workers from the Gleaners stopping to take a smoke break. Yet others made a statement about our contemporary world as in a painting of Venus admiring her visage post-plastic surgery or another of a rat improving the work of over-rated turd Damien Hirst by painting over it. (Note: the program handed out at the door addressed the same charge, which has been levelled at Banksy himself by speaking of the collaboration between the museum and over-rated artist, Banksy).
The resulting sound of laughter and recogniton coming from the galleries made for an unusual, highly enjoyable museum experience. Not what I imagine the sound of tourists admiring trophy cabinets to be like, at all.
The queues to enter the free exhibition have been averaging 3-4 hours. By arriving an 1 1/2 hours before the doors opened, I had a prime spot from where I could peek inside and see this piece.
The burned out ice-cream truck also serves as the museum's information center.
"Improved Spot Painting" by Damien Hirst and a Local Artist
One of the "hidden" Banksy works.
Wandering through Bristol, post-show.
The Christmas Steps.
He claims it is simply a short-cut to the time consuming process of having his work accepted by the museum. Now, in conjunction with some very publicity-savvy curators, he has temporarily taken over the Bristol City Museum and made it his own. From the museum's own account, a Banksy representative approached them with the offer of an exhibition funded entirely by the artist and presented as a gift to his hometown. In exchange, they had to agree to preserve his anonymity. Visitors and employees alike were told that the museum would be closed two weeks for filming and it was not until the project had been completed that a press release heralding the show was issued.
This famous Banksy stencil appears on the wall of Bristol's sexual health clinic. The city's residents voted in favor of keeping it by a 97% margin.I have been an admirer of Banksy's work for awhile and have spent quite a bit of time searching through the streets of several cities trying to find his pieces. Often, whether either due to my poor sense of direction or a city council's decision to remove what it views as vandalism, I have been unsuccessful in finding what I am looking for.
Therefore, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to see an exhibition entitled "Banksy v. Bristol Museum", even if it meant that I had to go to some corner of south-western England to do so. Luckily, with cheap-o EasyJet offering direct flights from Amsterdam, my current home, this was not as difficult as it seemed. Nor was actually getting into the exhibition itself.
I had already been warned of waiting times exceeding 4 hours, but by arriving at 8:30am for a 10am opening, I was the seventh person in line and was even able to wait under the building's overhang during Bristol's perpetual rain. Once inside, there were so many things to love about the show. One room was full of animatronic creatures asking the viewer to examine the provenance of the food that we eat. There was a mother hen looking over her chicken nugget offspring and fish sticks 'swimming' around a fish tank.
The same room featured a bunny rabbit tarted up and surrounded by the beauty products so often used in insidious and needless animal testing. Coming from me, this work was clearly preaching to the choir but the diversity of the crowd that had been drawn to the show was pretty startling. Next was the main exhibition hall featuring paintings, sculptures and stencils speaking to common Banksy themes such as the commercialism of art, the corrupting power of authority and the relationship between the west and developing nations.
While some of the themes are bleak and the over-all look of the room can best be described as post-apocalyptic, the underlying humor and playfulness on display tended to blunt the hard edges and keep the work from being overly didactic. But where I feel the show truly succeeded was in its very random placement of works throughout all of the rest of the galleries in the three story museum.
Satires of classic works were interspersed with actual classic works, forcing the viewer to look at the collection with a more sceptical and questioning eye, not merely accepting everything at its face value. There was no guide or program leading to his works, all of which were simply credited to "A Local Artist".
One had to carefully examine each room scavenger-hunt style. Some works were whimsical such as one of Jean-Francois Millet's field workers from the Gleaners stopping to take a smoke break. Yet others made a statement about our contemporary world as in a painting of Venus admiring her visage post-plastic surgery or another of a rat improving the work of over-rated turd Damien Hirst by painting over it. (Note: the program handed out at the door addressed the same charge, which has been levelled at Banksy himself by speaking of the collaboration between the museum and over-rated artist, Banksy).
The resulting sound of laughter and recogniton coming from the galleries made for an unusual, highly enjoyable museum experience. Not what I imagine the sound of tourists admiring trophy cabinets to be like, at all.
The queues to enter the free exhibition have been averaging 3-4 hours. By arriving an 1 1/2 hours before the doors opened, I had a prime spot from where I could peek inside and see this piece.
The burned out ice-cream truck also serves as the museum's information center.
"Improved Spot Painting" by Damien Hirst and a Local Artist
One of the "hidden" Banksy works.
Wandering through Bristol, post-show.
The Christmas Steps.
Great post. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWow, great exhibit. Would be nice to see a video of it, next best thing to being there.
ReplyDeleteHi Berti, great pictures! I visited Bristol in 1957, you were not among us yet. I went for a beer & their typical "sandwich" with a very hothot mustard to one of the oldest pubs in all of England, I had "local" friend as a guide, Sir Jeremy Cockayne with whoom I have been trying to get in touch with to no avail. Enjoy your "adventures" and if you need someone to carry your bags, remember me! Love, Magda
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the more memorable exhibits I have ever been to, really enjoyable. There is a video of it from the museum's own website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRai9x8aD3A
Magda, that's funny that you have been there. When I mentioned to a couple of British friends that I was heading to Bristol, none of them was really sure as to where it was.