He deconstructs art and is radical, surprising. Dismaland, anti-war,
It’s easy to understand Banksy’s desire to have this first major show of his 25 years of art making at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) Glasgow (once the Royal Exchange) with the coned Duke of Wellington proudly outside – coned comically now for 40 years after the council gave up trying to remove the cone.
Glasgow is a challenging and vibrant place – a place of a multitude of music venues, both big and small, where impressive stone architecture sits side by side with glass modernism, acute poverty and impressive art and architecture – tall Rennie Mackintosh design, merchant city venues, westend wealth, Clyde ships (now mostly silent like past ghosts) and swaying walkways that connect north and south Glasgow; the meetings and protests at George Square, down Ingram street and along Nelson Mandela place.
Glasgow is very much about its people and street art makes sense in a city that won’t be silent.
We first enter a dark, enclosed space with flickering lights, sounds and movement to represent street life – rather than the usual quiet of art galleries. There’s Banksy’s anti-war images – throwing flowers and hearts. There are many images of children.
For Brexit - 'VOTE LOVE'
Hope in humanity sits alongside despair here – can we forge new pathways? Often surprising, questioning,
“The purpose of art is not to hold up a mirror to life but to take a hammer to challenge it"
