[gtranslate]
News

Banksy’s controversial Sydney exhibition is almost over. Here’s why you should go and see it

There are two weeks left to see The Art of Banksy at Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter in the world’s largest exhibition of the elusive artist’s work – now that the closing date has been extended to December 1.

Photo: Dominic Robinson

With the closing date extended to early December, there’s just two weeks left to see Banksy’s Girl with Balloon before the Sydney exhibition finishes.

The exhibition is controversial though, and not just because Banksy himself is subversive in his practice and his politics. It’s been curated by the artist’s former manager, Steve Lazarides, who hasn’t had the artist sign off on it or the works which are mainly sourced from private collections. Despite this, and according to Lazarides, all the pieces are all 100 percent authentic.

“It’s our mission to show all elements of his work externally and give the public the opportunity to experience it, when museums and galleries won’t,” Lazarides said last year.

Some of Banky’s more famous works including Flower Thrower, Rude Copper, and Girl with Balloon, are all featured in the exhibition along with other works from between 1997 to 2008. In this way, the show offers a unique insight into Banksy’s development and process that one wouldn’t be able to see if not in a gallery setting.

But this isn’t the first time that Banksy’s work has visited Australia. In 2016, The Art of Banksy showed in Melbourne where it was controversial within the local arts scene. Local artist Adnate, who is known for his spray can portraits of Aboriginal people, depicted Lazarides as Judas as part of Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ near the entrance of the exhibition because the show was unauthorised by Banksy himself.

Find out more about the exhibition here.