This summer Lincolnshire is hosting one of the UK’s biggest exhibitions of street art featuring original Banksy artworks, alongside more than 90 other world-famous artists.
New Icons – running at Scunthorpe’s 20-21 Visual Arts Centre until 5 November – has artwork on display from some of the biggest names in Street and YBA Art (Young British Artists who rose to fame in the 1990s-2000s).
Along with Banksy’s Hula Girl, plus other paintings and over 20 prints and editions by Britain’s most famous street artist, the display of iconic wall paintings and prints also includes those from artists that have influenced the movement, including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
Now in its 21st year, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre is housed in a former grade II listed church in the heart of the town centre and is North Lincolnshire’s leading venue for the contemporary visual arts.
Expected to be the venue’s biggest exhibition yet, New Icons features artworks on loan from the collection of John Brandler, one of the world’s biggest street art collectors – and all of them are for sale.
While Banksy may be the star attraction, the display also includes We Love You NHS by Rachel List, a mural celebrating the NHS during lockdown.
Known for her colourful murals on walls in her hometown of Pontefract during the pandemic, she shot to national fame with this image of a paintbrush wielding nurse painting the NHS logo. In it, the nurse, wearing a facemask, has added the ‘superman’ symbol instead of the ‘S’ in NHS.
Other artists featured include Pure Evil, heavily influenced by the Pop Art movement and known for his darker imagery; KAWS, an American graffiti artist and designer who has become a household name with his cartoonish iconography; and Blek le Rat, regarded as the pioneer of Paris street art and often described as ‘the father of stencil graffiti’.
The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm, and admission, by ticket only, costs £8 for adults, £5 for children, and is free for under 12-year-olds.
For more information about the exhibition, and to book tickets, visit www.2021visualartscentre.co.uk
For details about visiting, and staying in, Lincolnshire, see www.visitlincolnshire.com
Photo: Pure Evil – America’s Worst Nightmare