After 14 years, Banksy has finally announced a solo show. The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art will host the opening of CUT & RUN: 25 years of card labour on Sunday.
Pieces spanning Banksy’s whole career are showcased here. Paintings like “Kissing Coppers” and “Mobile Lovers” have been recreated using original stencils. Simultaneously, a model depicting Banksy’s infamous 2018 destruction of Girl With Balloon before its sale at Sotheby’s is also on display. Works previously exclusively seen in the West Bank are included in Cut & Run alongside the Union Jack–decorated stab vest that Stormzy wore to Glastonbury in 2019. An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian civilian got into a pillow fight as one example.
From this coming weekend through the 28th of August, CUT & RUN will be open on Saturday and Sunday evenings and all night. According to the BBC, travelling versions of the display are in the works. Banksy has not granted a face-to-face interview since 2003 and has never publicly revealed his identity, despite his ever-increasing celebrity. Banksy vs. Bristol Museum was the title of his last one-man show, which took place in 2009.
Although Banksy has taken a 14-year break from official exhibitions, a number of pop-up shows featuring his work have arisen across the world in that time. The Art of Banksy, an unofficial exhibition that has already toured the world, will return to London this summer.
A replica of the shredder that Banksy secretly installed in the frame of one of his paintings before it was auctioned off at Sotheby’s London in 2018 will be on display as one of the show’s most intriguing pieces. The press announcement also states that the “artist’s actual toilet” will be part of the exhibition.
Banksy says in a statement: “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.”
A custom website has also been developed, featuring further information about the show. The event will be open all night on weekends, ending at 5 a.m. and reopening at 9 a.m., with adult tickets costing £15 (with concessions of £10 for “student/OAP/low waged/tight fisted”).
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