Amongst environmental activism, publicity stunts and film production, street artist Banksy spans a career of some unforgettable moments. Covering his work from 1990, we visited the new exhibition located at Media City, Manchester consisting of some of the finest privately-owned artworks from his career. Starting out as an illegal street artist from Bristol, Banksy modernised graffiti, staging some of the most left-field, media-worthy, politically motivated exhibitions that had never been seen before. Showcasing some of his most well-known work, the owners felt it should be shared for the world to see and we couldn’t agree more. The art world is the biggest joke going. It's a rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak.
Providing insight into his early career with street artists ‘DryBreadZ Crew’ it covers moving on to his infamous stencil style, collaborations with Greenpeace and his early major exhibitions such as Turf War and Crude Oils. Throughout the exhibition, there are Banksy quotations and politically driven projects giving you an insight into motivates his work. The ‘Tesco Petrol Bomb’, was created after the strokes Crofts riots in 2011 in his hometown, he gave all the proceeds to legal fees and those who were arrested. More recently the limited edition t-shirts, printed for the four protestors on trial in 2021, for bringing down the Edward Colston statue at the peak of Britain's Black Lives Matter movement. I’ve made some souvenir shirts to mark the occasion. Available today 11th December from various outlets in the city (all proceeds to the defendants so they can go for a pint.
The exhibition also gives you a true sense of his humour; British, dry and gritty. From the series of gallery infiltrations from 2003-2005 including Peckham rock at the British Museum. Banksy planted a cave-like drawing of a man pushing a trolley accompanied by an authentic-looking information label which wasn’t discovered for days later. And not to mention the famous ‘girl with the balloon’ painting that sold for 1m at auction only to shred itself after its sale. Visit The Art of Banksy at Media City, Salford Quays for a closer look, open until 8th January 2023. 
