The Art of Banksy comes to London

The largest collection of Banksy’s work is coming back to London, without his permission, writes Claudia Lee.

A private collection of Banksy’s iconic pieces with new unseen works and anonymous personal stories from his friends will open this summer.

Although the show contains the largest collection of official Banksy works, made from 1997 to 2008, it is entirely unauthorised by the artist.

All the works included in the exhibition have been loaned by private collectors.

The Art of Banksy is a big deal for Banksy fans, a huge exhibition all about the famously mysterious artist with his spray cans and stencils.

In 2021, while touring around the globe, The Art of Banksy took up residency in Covent Garden before returning to its travels.

Now it is coming back to London, this time to Regent Street, and organisers say it is going to be bigger and better than ever.

The exhibition will host 110 works, including Rude Copper, which depicts a policeman holding up his middle finger, Girl With
Balloon, in no fewer than three different colour variations, and Flower Thrower, as well as some previously unseen work and sketches.

The exhibition also focuses on Banksy’s Dismaland, the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem and recent artworks which comment on the ongoing war in Ukraine.

For this first time, close associates of the artist will share personal stories, giving long-awaited context on how Banksy’s street art stunts are devised and how the artist has managed to remain anonymous.

Despite rising to fame in the early 1990s by creating stencilled designs around his home city of Bristol and later gaining a worldwide following, Banksy’s identity remains unknown.

Famously, in 2018, the framed Girl With Balloon, one of the artist’s best known works, was auctioned by Sotheby’s in New Bond Street, Mayfair.

Moments after the piece was sold, the canvas of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon shredded itself.

Banksy posted the video of the shredding on instagram.

The clip starts with a caption, saying: “A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting.”

The video then shows someone in a hoodie installing the device, before another caption, saying: “In case it was ever put up for auction.”

The video then shows the moment the painting shredded itself at the auction house, captured on a mobile phone.

Quoting Picasso in the caption, Banksy wrote: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”

Tickets for The Art of Banksy at 84-86 Regent Street are on sale now at www.artofbanksy.co.uk.

The show opens on July 5.

 

Picture: Rude copper. Picture: The Art of Banksy