Exhibition runs between Saturday 13th June and Monday 31st August 2009 @ Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol

‘Best kept secret’ is a term which is banded around so often nowadays it has lost all meaning; it has morphed into a media cliché to try and imitate hype for something that people are completely disinterested in. The latest exhibit from Bristol’s number one cultural son though, truly has to be heralded as one of the very best kept secrets since Prince Gingernut went gallivanting around Iraq with a croquet set and sub-machine gun – and even that one was leaked early!

If anyone’s good at keeping secrets though, it’s the as yet unmasked, art terrorist Banksy, and as secrets go, this one is bloody Everest: Banksy’s first show in Bristol for over 9 years; the biggest show he’s ever done in Britain; a show that would see one of the world’s most famous and popular artists transform Bristol’s cultural institution for over two and a half months; and 100 odd exhibits, over 70 of which have never been seen by the public.

Whatever you might think of Banksy, his work (criticised as over-simplified and over-pretentious), his price tags and his showbiz fans, the fact is he is fucking good. His work is consistently interesting, funny, provocative and very contemporary. Banksy Versus Bristol Museum is all of these things and more. The range of styles, techniques and ideas on show here is simply unparalleled.

Normally this grand building is home to artefacts and paintings that document Bristol’s history but now, and for the rest of the summer, it is filled to bursting with Banksy’s unique blend of humour and controversy. As you walk into the distinguished Edwardian foyer, your view is dominated by a burnt-out ice-cream van, its giant 99 cone having melted but it still limply hums its distinctive ice-cream jingle, soundtracking the scene of urban decay around it – broken shopping trolleys, vandalised road signs and, oddly enough, a riot police officer riding a child’s motorised rocking horse. It’s classic Banksy, eye-catching, laugh-out-loud funny and oddly provocative, and it sets the tone for the rest of the exhibit.

The temporary exhibition hall has been completely transformed into a ‘Banksy Bunker’ with exactly the sort of art we know and love - there’s a mocked up studio, a vandalised portion of wall being mopped up like an old rug and a spectacular painting of apes running parliament – but what makes this exhibition so special is the way Banksy’s work bleeds into every corner of the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. In rooms amongst the permanent natural history exhibits and watercolour collections, you will find the odd Banksy imposter simply credited ‘Local Artist’: A scene of a couple dogging amongst some of the century’s greatest landscape paintings; an undercover vole complete with mini backpack and spray can in a marsh wildlife display; and Banksy’s own animatronic wildlife collection with a memorable CCTV family nest scene. No corner of the museum’s vast four floors is left untouched and everywhere the line between the permanent and the staged is blurred. This in itself manages to be a statement about the role of and what we value about art – which is the more real?

These meddlings also expose the shallowness of his own popularity, people only looking at the other art and displays on show in case it’s got his tag at the bottom. But far from being something he wants to shake off, Banksy is indulging and playing with the very concept of popular art. A nice touch and what I leave thinking about is the very last piece you see as you exit his bunker, two stick figures discussing art; “Never underestimate the power of a big gold frame”

www.banksy.co.uk

Matt Whittle
Photos by www.ianbradleyphotography.com

In Pictures - Banksy Versus Bristol Museum