Head down to Suffolk this summer to enjoy a world-first opportunity to see a unique collection of BANKSY artworks, says Angela Youngman, some of which no longer exist in reality due to the war in Ukraine ▸
STREET ART
Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour is a huge new contemporary art exhibition containing over 300 artworks by a range of artists including Banksy, Blek the Rat, Pure Evil, the Connor Brothers, Greyson Perry, My Dog Sighs, SPQR, Sherlock, Bambi, Lamont White, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Hush and many others. It is the largest such exhibition in the UK and represents a collaboration between West Suffolk Council and Brandler Galleries, home to rare works by street artists such as Banksy, the Connor Brothers and Blek Le Rat to name but a few.
The exhibition is split across three venues: Moyses Hall, Bury St Edmunds, The National Horse Racing Museum Newmarket and Haverhill Arts Centre. Visitors can see the exhibition at Moyses Hall and the National Horse Racing Museum until 1st October 2023, while the opening period is much shorter at Haverhill on 10 July and 12 September 2023.
Works by Banksy are split across all three venues, although the biggest group can be found in Newmarket. Over the past couple of decades, Banksy has become one of the most famous of all contemporary artists, particularly due to his anonymity. To this day, no one knows just who hides behind the name. He specialises in the use of stencilled images which are often applied to walls and other installations secretly overnight but has produced other work including posters, placards and book illustrations.
Urban Frame offers an opportunity to see just how his work has developed. On display in Newmarket are very early works including images stencilled onto cardboard which were used at anti-war rallies such as a placard showing a little girl clasping a bomb with the word NO in bright red letters. A rat with glasses is stencilled onto a bollard, while in a 2003 work entitled Have a Nice Day, military police are shown lined up around a tank. The threatening image is stressed by the fact that all the police have been given yellow smiley faces signifying they hide behind masks.
By far his most well-known images are the big, spray-painted characters placed in public places. Many of these have since been removed, with great difficulty since it involves taking large chunks of wall, away from a building. Among such works on display is Banksy’s Sandcastle Girl mural which was originally painted on a shop wall in Lowes
