In Conversation: How two Glasgow artists fooled the world with a fake Banksy

Last week Glasgow was brought to the forefront of the art-world when Banksy brought his impromptu exhibition to Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art - but it began to hit headlines nationally and internationally when a brand-new ‘Banksy’ piece was spotted n a wall in the city centre.

The internet went wild when the supposed Banksy appeared in a lane just off Buchanan Street, around the corner from Sloan’s pub. The artwork depicted a rat wearing an orange sash and Union Jack bowler hat with it’s tail caught in a trap baited with a copy of The Sun newspaper, banging a drum that read ‘God Save the King’ in red paint.

To the outside observer, it seemed exactly like something Banksy would do in Glasgow in the midst of marching season - and it didn’t take long for the piece to go viral, with articles appearing everywhere across the UK and beyond, from the BBC to The Sun itself - even Janey Godley took a trip down to snap a pic.

It was revealed after a few days by Banksy’s team that it wasn’t an original artwork - and shortly thereafter Glasgow City Council announced they would be removing the piece of mimicry.

It wasn’t until today that we knew the artists however, two Glasgow based artists called Conzo & Glöbel - well known in the scene for their murals across Glasgow, Ireland, Norway, and Canada. They even did a mural of a golden freddo as part of the Glasgow Mural Trail in the same lane they did the banksy, talk about hiding in plain sight.

We spoke with Ciarán Glöbel about the faux-Banksy, he said:”Myself and Conzo both paint murals for a living - both commercially and community-led pieces - and on the weekend we’ll be doing projects like this just for the love it.

“We came up with the idea after a brainstorming session - we just kept asking outselves, what would Banksy do?

“It’s marching season in the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland, so that came to mind eventually. Conzo is from Larkhall - so he grew up around that culture

“It wasn’t so much of a protest per se, and more of an experiment. I believe everyone has the right to celebrate their culture in the way they see fit.

“I don’t think orange walks are a benificial thing for our culture, but I defend their rights to do what they please. So it was less about protesting the orange order as entity, and more so thinking about what Banksy would take the p*** out of in Glasgow.

“We had a few other ideas but they just didn’t have the same punchiness. The whole of crux of this was to create an experiment on what would happen to a piece of Banksy’s artwork in Glasgow.

“We’ve seen down south that a piece of work by Banksy sends a city into a furore - in some instances being defaced before it gets protected by something like perspex, for instance.

“We wanted to chart that timeline and witness it first hand.”

The fake Banksy was first discovered by street artist snapper @Glasgowbysamsung - and before long regional and national media started reporting on it.

It didn’t take long for the artwork to get defaced, first with a fresh lick of black paint after the artists left to get a coffee - and then overnight with a quick spray of blue paint.

The city went into an uproar, with little speculation as to what it was commenting on, people began to wonder if it was real - while many took the painting at face value as an original Banksy.

Although who could blame them? Banksy hardly announces when he’s about to do a piece of work, or even once it’s complete - leaving them to be discovered in the environment.

Ciarán Glöbel continued:”As soon as we made it we gave up control and sat back and witnessed it - once it was out there it belonged to the city.

“It went almost exactly to plan, we knew it was in such a prominent location with a lot of foot traffic just off buchanan street. It’s a very popular spot, and because it was a divisive image we knew it was going to get vandalised eventually.

“We wondered to ourselves who would vandalise it first - someone that disagreed with the message or by any of the graffiti artists who don’t like Banksy.

“It was interesting to see how that went, obivously we don’t know who vandlised it but the blue paint could be a clue.

“We didn’t really want it to last longer than 24 hours, just so we could return to normality

“We’ve never imitated another artist in this way and I doubt we’ll do it again - the opportunity arose because of Banksy’s exhibition in Glasgow, and there’s no other artist I can think of that divides people so starkly - some people love him and some people hate him, regardless of whatever the artwork represents.”

The two street artists had a plan and executed it to a T - in doing so they also hoped to highlight the hypocrisy of Glasgow City Council, who put on one of the largest street artists in the world while also being the city to spend the most on getting rid of street art.

As an urban and post-industrial city bursting with some of the best and most cultured artists in Scotland and the UK, independent street art in Glasgow should be celebrated in our back alleys, side lanes, and even city centre walls - and not shamefully covered up because they don’t project the correct image the council desires.

Street art is art for arts sake - and is an expression of the real people of Glasgow, not a carefully manicured project to be governed by the council.

Other prominent street artists in Glasgow have also challenged Glasgow City Council on this, such as Pandah (@OhPandah) - who recently issued Glasgow City Council the ‘Banksy Challenge’, check out the thread below for more on that.

Glöbel went on to speak about how Glasgow City Council could be doing more for street art, he said:”Well I think first and foremost it could be settled relatively easy - by opening up areas regularly hit by graffiti and making them completely legal.

“Down by Broomielaw on the Clydeside there’s a wall that’s regularly painted with some really brilliant pieces - but if you’re caught doing it you’ll be issued with an on the spot fine.

“A secession by the clydeside for street art would be great for the city. If they could maintain the area, which I believe now is flanked by high-end hotels, I think it could be a great spot to show off the cities artistic capabilities.

“It would make the area safer, it would improve the quality of work there and we would see more cohesive art too.

“There’s not a lot of palces for street artists to go legally outside of working on the mural trail for the council - but that obviously excludes a lot of artists who don’t fit criteria set by the council.

“I’m nearly 40 now and I can understand that grafitti can look unsightly and even sh**** at times - but if they tried to manage it without being too hands on I believe the level and quality of the art would drastrically improve.”

Ciarán Glöbel & Conzo are currently in the midst of planning an exhibition of their artwork in Glasgow later this year - until then they’ll be working their day jobs as signwriters and illustrators respectively.

You can watch Glöbel’s behind the scenes video of creating the fake banksy and all the work that went into the project on his Instagram - @ciaranglobel.

You can also find some of the work Conzo has done on their Instagram - @conzothrob.