As Banksy announces their first art exhibition in 14 years, opening tomorrow at the Gallery of Modern Art, we remember the artists’ first exhibition in Glasgow that arrived at a defining point in the artist’s career. Banksy began as a freehand graffiti artist in Bristol from 1990 to 1994. During this time he met Bristol photographer Steve Lazarides who began selling Banksy’s artwrok.
By 2000, their chosen medium was stencilling ensuring a quick installation process. The striking and subversive images and slogans that established Banksy’s global reputation in the art work began to emege.
A year before the first Banksy exhibition in Los Angeles, and two years before the Turf War exhibition in a London warehouse that featured subverted paintings and Union Flag motifs, the artist was in Glasgow.
Exhibition photographs by Steve Lazarides.
13. Mona Lisa
Elements of this artwork remainded in The Arches until renovations in 2007 when it was painted over with plain grey emulsion.
14. Banksy
Another element of the artwork in The Arches. | Banksy
15. Culture
Glasgow’s Mona Lisa
16. Stencil
A stencil similar to this was on the wall outside The Arches entrance, a faint outline remains. | Steve Lazarides