Banksy: Cut and Run exhibition review
This show is a ‘grab-bag’ of the street artist’s work dating back to the 1990s

“Love him or loathe him, it is impossible to ignore Banksy,” said Mark Brown in The Daily Telegraph. Although he himself has somehow managed to preserve his anonymity, the mysterious graffiti artist’s work has become “as recognisable (and as saleable)” as anything created by Andy Warhol or Keith Haring.
As such, this retrospective at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, his first authorised institutional solo show since 2009, is “a big deal”. The exhibition – subtitled “25 Years Card Labour: An Exhibition of Stencils” from 1998-2023 – is a grab-bag of Banksy’s work going back to the 1990s, when he first dabbled in graffiti.
Along the way, it gives us versions of many of his most emblematic pieces – from the “stencilled ants” that were an early signature to the famous Girl With Balloon, a work which unexpectedly shredded itself “within seconds of it being sold at Sotheby’s” – and surprising curios aplenty. This “beautifully put together” show will leave you in no doubt that Banksy is “an artist of remarkable invention and humour” – and one of “lasting importance”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This is perhaps the first time that the “Scarlet Pimpernel of modern art” has shed real light on his operation, said Alison Rowat in The Herald. The first thing we see on entering is one of Banksy’s desks, surrounded by some of the stencils he has used to create his “landmark” works. Stencils (or cards) are the key to how he has avoided arrest and guarded his anonymity, allowing him to do the bulk of the work in his studio and minimise the time it takes to leave his mark on a wall. As the artist says: “Monet had light, Hockney has colour, I’ve got police response time.”
Room-sized installations give us a sense of Banksy’s mischievous personality, too. We see a mock-up of his teenage bedroom, complete with “posters of The Specials and a collection of catapults”. There’s “a giant strip cartoon explaining how the boy Banksy came to be the artist he is today”. “Why can’t you draw something nice? Like flowers?” says his mum. “Definitely her exact words,” Banksy adds.
Banksy is “a master of the visual one-liner”, said Susan Mansfield in The Scotsman. The first-person wall texts give us an amiable, personalised guided tour through his greatest hits, including now-classic images such as “the youth hurling the bunch of flowers”, “the bobbies kissing” and “the heart which turns ‘Vote leave’ into ‘Vote love’”.
The Banksy who emerges from this show is “a practical joker with a conscience rather than a purveyor of incisive political commentary”, and you can’t help but warm to him. Nevertheless, removed from its original context, his work can often feel rather inert.
“Interesting” as this exhibition is, it ultimately feels “just a little bit empty. This is a museum of Banksy. The real thing is out in the streets.”
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (cutandrun.co.uk). Until 28 August
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Exploring Georgia's southern highlands
The Week Recommends Visit Javakheti, Georgia's 'lake district', and meet the last-remaining 'spirit wrestlers' in the region
-
Delivery drivers face continuing heat danger with Trump's OSHA pick
The Explainer David Keeling is the former head of UPS and also worked at Amazon
-
Is that the buzzing sound of climate change worsening sleep apnea?
Under the radar Catching diseases, not those ever-essential Zzs
-
Exploring Georgia's southern highlands
The Week Recommends Visit Javakheti, Georgia's 'lake district', and meet the last-remaining 'spirit wrestlers' in the region
-
Music reviews: Bruce Springsteen and Benson Boone
Feature "Tracks II: The Lost Albums" and "American Heart"
-
Thomas Mallon's 6 favorite books from the 80's and early 90's
Feature The author recommends works by James Merrill, Calvin Trillin, and more
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Axel Scheffler picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends From Steig to Finkelstein, the award-winning illustrator shares his top picks
-
Lovestuck: a 'warm-hearted' musical with a 'powerhouse score'
The Week Recommends Team behind the hit podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno have created a hilarious show about a disastrous viral Tinder date
-
Outrageous: glossy Mitford family drama is full of 'fun, fashion and froth'
The Week Recommends Adaptation of Mary Lovell's biography examines the scandalous lives of the aristocratic sisters