some sort of Banksy retrospective
In March 2002 Banksy heads up to Glasgow to participate in an exhibition at The Arches, a cafe/restaurant. Very little documentation remains.
Banksy goes to Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles and Israel, where he paints the first stenciled version of the iconic “Love is in the air”.
Banksy publishes his first book of four up to date: “Banging your head against a brick wall” contains some very well written texts along images of his most prominent street art and some interesting originals. 54 pages in B&W. Some curious highlights:
The first Banksy “exhibition” in London took place on Rivington Street on 31 May 2001. Banksy produced twelve stencils. In Banksy’s own words: “We came out of a pub one night arguing about how easy it would be to hold an exhibition in London without asking anyone permission. As we walked through a tunnel in Shoreditch someone said – You’re wasting your time, why would you want to paint pictures in a dump like this?”
Banksy joined the Easton Cowboys, a radical football team from Bristol. In 2001 they went to Chiapas in Mexico to play against a football team from EZLN – Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional. Banksy played as a goalkeeper. During the stay in Chiapas the Banksy team completed a few nice stencils and at least two free-hands.
Banksy moved from Bristol to London somewhere in the end of 1999. Banksy is highly prolific on Londons street during this period.
After moving to London in early 2000, Banksy went back to Bristol in February the same year, where he opened his first regular exhibition in his own name at the restaurant Severnshed, behind the docks. It’s was a mixture of stencil and acrylic. All pieces were priced under £ 1,000. The “Self-portrait” of Banksy, with a chimp head, sold for £ 198,000 at Bonhams in 2007. There are two remarkable pieces – “Simple intelligence testing” and “Sharks”.
Photos: Melfleance, Flickr
Banksy’s first non – street art exhibition took place in a flat in Easton, Bristol. Mostly acrylic. There was an early version of “Love is in the air”.
Photos: Mark Simmons – Home Sweet Home, Banksy’s Bristol
Walls on Fire was an open air street art exhibition put together on August 22 and 23 by Inkie and Banksy with the town hall’s agreement.
According to Steve Wright’s and Richard Jones excellent book “Home Sweet Home”, Banksy’s first stencil ever was an insect in a spotlight on a wall in Windmill Hill in South Bristol. The exact year is unclear but 1996 is a good approximation.
Banksy’s early stencil work in Bristol:
Banksy unofficial 