For over 30 years, the British street artist Banksy has been making international headlines. His paint-and-stencil works, which spontaneously appear on walls, bridges and other urban structures, combine social and political commentary with cheeky and often irreverent humor.
That he has done this anonymously, with his identity never revealed, has elevated his mystique.
It’s also made him (presumably) wealthy, as Banksy – or rather, his “team” – sells original paintings, sculpture and prints of his street work through a website called Pest Control.
The website, and the occasional pop-up Banksy-authorized exhibit in London, Los Angeles or New York, all operate under a cloak of secrecy. Banksy is the Batman of the art world, and those who could identify Bruce Wayne are keeping mum.
The Art of Banksy opens July 31 at Tampa Straz Center; the stage of Morsani Hall, the complex’s largest theater, will be transformed into a walk-through art gallery.
Toronto’s Corey Ross is the producer of the traveling exhibit, which consists of 160 pieces of art of various size and substance. Although the show isn’t an “official” Banksy exhibit, every painting, print, sculpture and bit of ephemera has been authenticated by the guerilla artist’s company.
“It’s an interesting challenge to do, on the stage of a theater,” Ross told the Catalyst. “To display real art in a compelling and interesting way onstage ends up being wonderful. It was a wonderful opportunity. You have all of the technology and staging that you can do in a theater.
“We’ve been doing it in galleries. So I would say this is going to be the grandest version that we’ve done to date, because we had the opportunity to be grand with it.”
Because it’s prized by collectors, original Banksy art is pricey, and hard to come by. Ross, whose company started touring The Art of Banksy in 2018, said the art on display is valued at $35 million. “It’s all sitting in private homes, or in warehouses owned by collectors,” he explained.
“We went out and began to network with all the different collectors, and that’s how this collection got assembled. If Banksy came to Tampa and decided to do his own exhibit, it would be something very different than this. But in the meantime, he’s not doing that.
“This allows us to create an exhibit which speaks ‘of’ Banksy in a way he may or may not be prepared to speak of himself.”
Some of the vandal’s best works. – The Globe and Mail (U.K.)
Arguably, the artist’s most famous work is Girl With Balloon, originally stenciled on London’s Waterloo Bridge in 2002. Variations subsequently appeared in several political hotspots in England, in France and on the West Bank.
Banksy and Pest Control produced a limited number of signed original paintings and prints of the work.
One of these sold at Sotheby’s auction house for approximately $2 million in 2018. As the gavel came down, finalizing the last bid, the print began to move downwards. Banksy, who was watching the auction online, had surreptitiously installed a shredder in the bottom of the frame, and Girl With Balloon was partially shredded, to the horror of those in attendance.
“Going, going, gone” wrote the artist on Instagram.
The buyer opted to keep the work, half shredded and hanging out of the frame. Authenticated by Pest Control and retitled Love is in the Bin, the piece sold for more than $24 million in 2021.
(Note: Love is in the Bin is not included in The Art of Banksy.)
Also included in The Art of Banksy: Examples of his Di-Faced Tenners, counterfeit 10-pound bills that replaced Queen Elizabeth’s face with that of Princess Diana (and referenced “The Banksy of England”); and his “take” on Paris Hilton’s 2006 debut CD: Banksy replaced the booklet inside with his own artwork and comments, and “reverse shoplifted” his version into London record stores.
Actor Brad Pitt, a friend of the otherwise-anonymous artist, purchased Banksy’s stencil-and-mesh Mona Lisa, and kept it for 18 years. In 2022, Pitt returned it to Banksy, who proceeded to “update” the work. This revised version is now on view in The Art of Banksy.
“At the end of the day,” said Ross, “our sense is that they (Banksy and Pest Control) really respect what we do because it is authentic. It’s all authenticated work, truly coming from their collectors. And it’s intelligently speaking to the history of Banksy.”
This, he added, is what separates “his” show from would-be imitators.
“Most of those imitators would not use authentic art, because that’s the hard work,” Ross said. “If Brad Pitt’s going to let you have his Mona Lisa, you’ve got to prove that you’re doing a project that’s good quality, and that you’re going to take good care of the art.”
The Art of Banksy will be on exhibit July 31 through Sept. 27. Find all details and tickets at this link.
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
