Of Kissing Coppers and Molotov flower throwers: Banksy Cuts and Runs in Glasgow

Matilda Lask stands next to 'Basquiat being stop and searched' (London 2017) on display at the new show by artist Banksy 'Cut & Run' which opens on the 18th at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) on June 15, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. On display at the exhibition, titled CUT & RUN: 25 years card labour, are some of the original stencils graffiti artist Banksy used to create his most famous works including Mobile Lovers and the Kissing Coppers as well as new versions of the originals. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

By John Curtis

31 Aug 2023

A rare public exhibition by the graffiti artist Banksy in Glasgow has attracted 180,000 visits in 10 weeks from all corners of the world.

Overheard in a broad Glaswegian accent in the queue that began forming at 4:15am outside Banksy’s Cut & Run exhibition yesterday: “I said to my wife, it’s the last day of the Banksy exhibition. She said she weren’t interested in art, but I told her this is not Michelangelo. This is working class art, with a social conscience”.

While that statement may or may not fairly place either artist, the mention of both in the same breath is indicative of the popularity of the contemporary graffiti artist who goes by the name of Banksy, and whose first solo exhibition in 14 years drew to a close yesterday (Monday) at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Glasgow.

In case any other evidence were required, the queue for tickets quickly grew to five hundred deep, snapping up the last unreserved slots for the exhibition’s last day even before the gallery doors opened at 8am.

The show has attracted 180,000 visits in 10 weeks from all corners of the world, including actor Johnny Depp and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, with some folk making the trip especially for this occasion.

The gallery has received £10,000 in donations and tens of thousands of first-time visitors, and there is every expectation that when all is said and done the city’s economy will have been boosted by over £10-million (the amount said to have benefited Bristol when that city hosted a Banksy solo exhibit back in 2009).

Hype around the show has been rife, with fake Banksy pieces cropping up around the city and speculation as to the artist’s true identity reaching epic proportions. Maybe he is a she? Or perhaps even, they are them? Who knows?

A welcoming notice explained the artist’s choice of venue as being a hat tip to the statue of the 1st Duke of Wellington mounted on horseback outside the gallery’s entrance. Over the past 40 years, the public has taken ownership of the statue by placing a traffic cone on its head and then replacing it with another every time it was removed by the council.

Every official attempt to stop this practice — including public appeals, threats, surveillance and expensive plans to extend the height of the statue by six feet — was met by vigorous public resistance until the traffic cone was finally accepted by the authorities as being part and parcel of Glaswegian and Scottish culture.

Duke of Wellington, Banksy Duke of Wellington statue. (Photo: Supplied)

The Duke of Wellington statue crowned with a traffic cone outside the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in the center of Glasgow, UK, on Sunday, July 16, 2023. It's been almost a decade since Scotland voted to stay in the UK in a referendum, yet the question of whether the Kingdom should remain United still dominates the country's politics and has been turbocharged since Scots voted strongly against leaving the European Union. Photographer: Emily Macinnes/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As such it has since been adopted as a mascot for Scottish Independence, anti-Brexit Remainers, the Olympic and Commonwealth games, Covid compliance, environmental activism and Ukrainian support, each time donning a fresh cone to represent the cause.

Little wonder Banksy would pronounce the statue, complete with its ever-changing conical hat, as a favourite work of art in the UK, and choose the GoMA to host this celebration of 25 years of Banksy artivism.

History of resistance

The exhibition did not disappoint. It included the actual stencils (alluded to in its title) used for many of the iconic murals we have come to know. Present were the Kissing Coppers, the Pissing Horse Guard, the Ubiquitous Rat and of course, various iterations of the Girl and Her Heart-Shaped Balloon, including the version that was shredded, presented here with its frame dismantled to demonstrate the intricacy behind an instance of performance art that shocked the world.

Also on show was Stormzy’s hand-painted bulletproof Union Jacket.

Event marshal Matilda Lask stands next to the Stormzy stab-proof vest which he wore at Glastonburry festival and the Stencil and the kissing policemen in the new show by artist Banksy 'Cut & Run' which opens on the 18th at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) on June 15, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. On display at the exhibition, titled CUT & RUN: 25 years card labour, are some of the original stencils graffiti artist Banksy used to create his most famous works including Mobile Lovers and the Kissing Coppers as well as new versions of the originals. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Matilda Lask stands views the new show by artist Banksy 'Cut & Run' which opens on the 18th at Glasgow's GoMA on June 15, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. On display at the exhibition, titled CUT & RUN: 25 years card labour, are some of the original stencils graffiti artist Banksy used to create his most famous works including Mobile Lovers and the Kissing Coppers as well as new versions of the originals. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

And there were many revelations which, at least to this disciple of the elusive artist, were hitherto unknown. A lifelike installation showcased their earliest work; an office elevator infested with giant ants, spray painted as revenge against a supervisor who had won over the affections of the artist’s girlfriend.

The famous Molotov flower thrower is another early work, presented in stencil with its origin story beautifully told alongside in comic form by the artist, depicting himself as a little boy (in phraseology ending any speculation as to his gender) who drew angry scenes of sickening violence and protest until his mother asked why he didn’t rather draw pretty flowers. Sarcastically, he replaced a protester’s brick with a bunch of flowers. His sister, appreciating the jarring visual, pronounced it art, and so it was.

In one of the halls, attendees were invited to choose an installation to be photographed with by any one of the attendants with an instant camera (all cell phones had to be surrendered at the entrance and were locked in sealed bags to avoid any unauthorised photography). The instant photographs were included in the entrance fee (adults £15, children £5) and visitors had a choice of inserting themselves into a real phone booth monitored by life-sized stencilled spies, seated at a bus stop upon which an elderly couple are engaged in a youthful dance, or standing in solidarity with a truckload of squealing fluffy farm animals being taken to slaughter.

Banksy’s work flirts between the serious and the playful, and often manages to encompass both attributes. Over the quarter of a century that we have come to know him, he has earned his champions and detractors. There are those who have accused him of plagiarism and those who point out the hypocrisy of his jealously protecting his own intellectual property while flouting that of others.

There’s a tension between his socialist credentials (his street art gifted to the communities in which they appear) and the high-priced limited edition prints. And there’s speculation that those with whom he inevitably collaborates aren’t fairly compensated or acknowledged. The NDAs they must surely sign (to protect Banksy’s identity) could hide any number of labour malpractices.

Of course, there will also be different interpretations of his work, and there will be those who disagree with some of the points he makes or how he makes them. One piece — an apparently homeless man shown sleeping on a park bench being towed by Santa’s reindeer — felt uncomfortably like poverty porn. Like all graphical commentators, there are times where he has messed up his messaging.

One such case (in which he admits fault), was when he was invited by the producers of The Simpsons to come up with a gag for the opening ‘couch’ sequence of an episode, and he turned it into an exposé of the Fox corporation’s exploitation of South Korean animators who draw the series. Banksy insisted on depicting the animators in conical hats such as those worn by indentured workers in the rice paddies, but the very workers he was supporting threatened to down tools unless that racist depiction of the hats was dropped.

Which all goes to prove that cultural nuances matter. The conical hat worn so proudly by the 1st Duke of Wellington is not the same as those worn by people slaving in the rice paddies. At the end of the day, Banksy’s work has us thinking and discussing the points that it makes, and surely that should be the aspiration of any graphic commentator. DM/MC

John Curtis is a South African cartoonist and freelance writer living in the United Kingdom.

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