An exhibition reportedly set to feature more than 80 works by notorious and enigmatic street artist Banksy will run at a pop-up exhibition space behind Federation Square in Melbourne this October.
Banksy himself won’t be involved in the exhibition. Rather, ‘The Art Of Banksy’ will be organised by the artist’s previous manager, Steve Lazarides.
The exhibition will exclusively feature work from private owners, and will also display numerous pieces that have never before been publicly displayed.
“This exhibition is a one off – never will you be able to see this amount of work in one place again,” Lazarides tells Junkee. “Once the show is over, the artwork will dissipate back to the other 40 collectors around the world, and the likelihood of them being brought together again in the future is very slim.”
Lazarides also told Broadsheet that there’s a good chance that the exhibition will piss off Banksy himself. “I hope so. We’ve been at loggerheads for years… Banksy and I haven’t spoken for over a year,” he says.
“He’s not the kind of guy who is ever going to do a retrospective. I started looking at his paintings and a lot of them have more relevance now than when they were painted. I think it’s good to get it back out there and for people to start talking about things.”
The Art Of Banksy will run from Friday, 7th October through to Sunday, 22nd January. Tickets are on sale now, and you can watch a trailer below.
The exhibition will finally bring some reparation for Melburnians, who watched on as construction workers took a wrecking ball to Banky’s largest single work in the city this July.
Watch: The Art Of Banksy Melbourne Trailer
