some sort of Banksy retrospective
Banksy published his first book of four up to date: “Banging your head against a brick wall”, which contains some very well-written texts along with images of his most prominent street art and some interesting originals. 54 pages in B&W. Some curious highlights:
The first “exhibition” in London took place on Rivington Street on 31 May 2001. 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 stencils and at least two free-hands.
At the end of 1999, Banksy moved from Bristol to London, where he soon became highly prolific on the streets.
After moving to London in late 1999, Banksy returned to Bristol in February 2000 to open his first regular exhibition at the restaurant Severnshed, behind the docks. The show was a mixture of stencil and acrylic on canvas. 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 other 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’s excellent book “Home Sweet Home”, Banksy’s first stencil 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:
The walls of Easton in Bristol were the canvases for Banksy’s early freehand work. Inkie and other prominent figures from Bristol street-art scene collaborated regularly.
Banksy unofficial 