Temporarily closed.

BANKSY A VISUAL PROTEST

• 8 September 2020 > 11 April 2021

Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, presents “BANKSY A VISUAL PROTEST”.

Buy the ticket to the Exhibition Banksy on 2tickets.it

[Notice to the Reader: in the absence of any certain information about the artist’s identity and his thought, in the text that follows we have decided to offer some suppositions. Most of what is reported is drawn from publications by Banksy and from some more or less authorized interviews he has given in the past.]

On show

Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colors and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet.

Over 100 works, in a rigorous exposition itinerary, illustrate Banksy’s world. The 16th-century architecture of the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome becomes a setting for the “unknown” artist who has charmed the world through works steeped in irony, denunciation, politics, intelligence, and protest.

From Love is in the Air to Girl with Balloon; from Queen Vic to Napalm, from Toxic Mary to HMV, from the press runs for the book Wall & Piece to the projects for vinyl and CD covers.

I was pretty bad with the spray can, so I started cutting out the stencils: Banksy’s own words provide some indications as to the technique he most frequently uses. On display, thanks to stenciling: paper or canvas prints, along with a selection of unique works executed using different techniques – oil or acrylic on canvas, spray on canvas, stencils on metal or concrete, painted polymeric sculptures or varnished bronze ones.

The exhibition itinerary features over twenty projects for record and book covers, spanning the years from 2001 to 2017. All works come from private collections.

With this new exhibition project, DART – Chiostro del Bramante carries on its commitment to present art to the public through its leading representatives: after the success of ‘Bacon and Freud and the London School’, held in collaboration with Tate, it is now Banksy’s turn.

The ‘walls’ designed by Donato Bramante around 1500 house the ideas, dreams, and messages launched by the world’s most famous unknown artist on countless walls in countless cities. The contradiction is only apparent, as in recent years the Chiostro has shown a considerable openness to the most diverse languages of contemporary art.

Who is Banksy?

I don’t know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower.

Presumably born in Bristol at the beginning of the 1970s, Banksy is regarded as one of the leading representatives of street art. In 2019 he was ranked fourteenth on ArtReview’s list of the one hundred most influential personalities in the art world. Yet no one, apart from his closest friends and collaborators, knows his identity.

What we do know is that he trained in the underground British scene, where he worked with several artists and musicians. We also know that his artistic output began in the late 1990s. From that moment onwards, he started making his presence felt in many cities – from Bristol and London to New York, Jerusalem, and Venice – with graffiti and various performances and incursions.

Anonymity

I have no interest in ever coming out. I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is.

There are a number of reasons for Banksy’s choice to remain anonymous: the need to elude the police, given his illegal incursions and graffiti; the need to protect himself, given the satirical background of his works touching upon sensitive issues like politics and ethics; and the desire not to compromise the perception of his identity and works, as the artist himself states.

The public

Art is not like other cultures because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas every day, we read novels by the millions and buy records by the billions. ‘We the people’ – affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.

The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a few hundred people in the world have a real say. When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at a trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.

Banksy employs a direct form of communication, rejecting the system and its rules. The artist addresses his public without any filters, and his works are visual texts capable of informing and inspiring reflection.

Themes

They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant, and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.

War, wealth and poverty, animals, globalization, consumerism, politics, power, and environmentalism: the themes Banksy explores are the world’s themes.

Fame

If you want someone to be ignored then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town. It doesn’t matter how great you were, it’ll always take an unfunny drunk with climbing skills to make people notice you.

Engagement

Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has dried up will man realize that reciting red Indian proverbs makes you sound like a fucking muppet.

Technique

Graffiti has been used to initiate revolutions, stop wars, and in general, they are the voice of people who are not heard.

T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much-killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoiled by progress.

Authenticity

A small rat with an apron and broom introduces the five sections of the site pestcontroloffice.com

What Is Pest Control? Authentication for Prints Authentication for Art

Change of Ownership Requests Join Mailing List

Since 2009, Pest Control has been the official service authenticating Banksy’s works. Pest Control only certifies pieces produced for sale, and not street artworks, which are not conceived for the market (with a few exceptions). Stapled to each authentication document is half a £10 note with Lady Diana’s face. The banknote has a hand-written identification number which matches the number on the other side, which is kept by Pest Control: a forgery proving that the purchaser possesses an original work. Pest Control has achieved radical results in ‘cleaning up’ the market, but at the same time, it has angered people possessing Banksy works that are undoubtedly original but which the artist, for various reasons, refuses to authenticate. Pest Control is owned by Pictures on Walls (POW), Banksy’s first company, established in 2003.  Street art actions are authenticated through the website banksy.co.uk and the Instagram account @banksy.

BANKSY A VISUAL PROTEST exhibition organized by DART Chiostro del Bramante in collaboration with 24 ORE Cultura and designed by Madeinart

with the patronage of Regione lazio – Assessorato alla Crescita Culturale media partner Sky Arte – Radio Monte Carlo technical partner Active Image Gmbh – Scatto Srl – Tecnoservice2000 media coverage Arte.it – Wanted in rome

PRESS OFFICE

adicorbetta

info@adicorbetta.org | t. 02 89053149

Chiostro del Bramante

Raffaele Brancato e Annalisa Esposito

comunicazione@chiostrodelbramante.it

INFORMATION | BOOKING

Contact Us:

infomostra@chiostrodelbramante.it | + 39 06 68 80 90 35

OPENING HOURS
Monday to Friday 10.00 – 20.00 | Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 21.00
(the ticket office closes one hour earlier)

TICKET PURCHASE
Click here: https://bit.ly/banksy_tickets_cdb

• From Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 15.00 = ticket at 13 euro
  From Monday to Friday from 15.00 to 19.00 = ticket for 15 euros
  Saturday and Sunday, from 10.00 to 13.00 = ticket for 15 euro
  Saturday and Sunday, from 13.00 to 20.00 = ticket at 18 euro

JUNIOR TICKET € 10

• Children from 5 to 10 years

FREE TICKET

• Children from or to 4 years
• Disabled (from 70% onwards)
• journalists with a regular card of the National Order (professionals, practitioners, publicists) in-service upon request of accreditation (excluding holidays, Saturday and Sunday) by email to communication@chiostrodelbramante.it

SPECIAL OPENINGS

• 1 November, Sunday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  8 December, Tuesday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  24 December, Thursday, ticket office open from 10 am to 4 pm
  25 December, Friday, ticket office open from 5 pm to 9 pm
  26 December, Saturday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  31 December, Thursday, ticket office open from 10 am to 5.30 pm
  1 January, Friday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  6 January, Wednesday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  4 April, Sunday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm
  April 5, Monday, ticket office open from 10 am to 8 pm