Tauranga shows Banksy art
New Zealand art enthusiasts won’t have to leave the country or book a room in elusive street artist Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem to see his work.
Twenty-two art works by the renowned but anonymous British artist, activist and film director go on show this month at the Tauranga Art Gallery as part of the city’s first street art festival, Paradox.
It is the largest collection of Banksy works in the Southern Hemisphere and arrives thanks to British couple George Shaw and Shannon Webster. The former software programmers and keen street art collectors moved to New Zealand in 2009, shipping their collection to their Nelson home.
They started collecting street art in the early 2000s after discovering that most street artists sell work for inside walls. Banksy was yet to become famous and his work was available and affordable.
When they moved to New Zealand Shaw and Webster started Oi You!, a street art event company that has staged exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia, overseen the painting of 60 murals and worked with businesses, galleries and local authorities to oversee street art projects.
Oi You! exhibitions include RISE in Christchurch in 2013, followed by two other street art events there. Travel bible Lonely Planet this year featured Christchurch in a new book about the street art capitals of the world, listing it alongside London, Melbourne, San Francisco, New York, Barcelona and Berlin.
Now Tauranga is hoping Oi You! will have a similar effect through Paradox: Tauranga Street Art Festival.
The 12-week festival, which starts tomorrow and runs until June 15, centres on a major exhibition at the Tauranga Art Gallery featuring 80 works including the Banksy creations. However, the creation of street art itself plays a major part in Paradox. International and local street artists will leave a remarkable legacy with six huge murals to be painted on Tauranga buildings.
Artists include British-born Lucy McLauchlan, Bay of Plenty artist Owen Dippie, Askew One and Aucklanders Charles and Janine Williams, Brisbane’s Sofles, Jacob Yikes from Christchurch and Sydney’s Fintan Magee.