We enjoyed a short trip to London last week, now the Covid restrictions have lifted a little, and as I like this to be a bit of an arty blog I wanted to chat about our visit to the Banksy exhibition while there. It was right next to Covent Garden, where we love to browse, eat sausage rolls and watch street entertainers from a kerbside.
This was an 'unofficial' exhibition as Banksy isn't a fan of anything organised, but the whole event lived and breathed Banksy, with a huge collection owned by private customers, who are keen for the public to view his art, all highly political of course. I'm not sure how clued up the Swiss are about Banksy but I think in the UK we see him as a bit of a Robin Hood type figure, committing his graffiti crime under cover and often during the hours of darkness, in the fight against our corrupt governments and politicians. He has worked with Greenpeace and got involved in local disputes - notably with his Tesco Petrol Bomb' piece following the Bristol riots which were sparked by yet another superstore blot on the horizon. The police claimed that squat residents were making Molotov cocktails to burn down the store they opposed. All proceeds from the artwork went towards the legal fees of those arrested.
My 14-year-old daughter loved it. It had an 'underground' feel, lots of dark passageways and corridoors. One of Banksy's close friends was chatting away with anecdotes from various screens dotted around the exhibition. And I couldn't help notice a hooded figure in the corner of one particularly dark section. I love how Banksy rolls, he's done so well maintaining his secret identity and creating a real enigma around his actions and passionate yearning to change the world for the better. So here are a few of those pictures - well known and not so well known.
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| Tesco Petrol Bomb |
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| Turf Wars |
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| Girl with Balloon (red) |
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| Have a Nice Day |
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| Love is in the Air |
