Banksy Work on Display at Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries
February 12, 2019
Banksy's "Haight Street Rat" can be seen at the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries.
A work by the famed anonymous English street artist known internationally as Banksy is now on display at Old Dominion University's Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries. His "Haight Street Rat" can be viewed through April 7.
"This is a chance to see a Banksy up close," said ODU Executive Director for the Arts Cullen Strawn, who worked with art collector Brian Greif to bring Banksy's piece to Norfolk for Hampton Roads and surrounding communities. "It can help us think about cultural and ethical dimensions of creating, preserving and profiteering from street art."
Coinciding with the release of his 2010 film "Exit Through the Gift Shop," Banksy visited San Francisco and painted six stencil murals, including a 7‐foot‐tall rat above Haight Street.
While the remaining murals were destroyed, Greif quickly set to work with the Haight Street property owner and others to arrange careful removal of the Victorian‐era redwood siding slats bearing the art, with the aim of donating the reassembled piece to a museum for public display.
The 2017 film "Saving Banksy"chronicles Greif's efforts. It is available on Netflix and is also on continuous rotation in the Gordon Galleries, where Banksy's rat appears alongside a new mural by local artists and an area where visitors can leave their own marks
Banksy's work has taken on deep meaning for many. His piece on an emergency door of the Bataclan music hall in Paris, thought to memorialize victims killed and injured by armed militants in 2015, was recently stolen, triggering expressions of loss and outrage by the venue and mayor, among others.
He made headlines for remotely shredding a framed print of his "Girl With Balloon"following its sale for $1.4 million at a Sotheby's auction.
The Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries exhibit works by nationally and internationally recognized self‐taught artists, contemporary artists working in all media, and local and regional artists connected with Old Dominion University. Admission is free and open to the public, with parking in the 45th Street garage. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m. For more information, visit odu.edu/gordongalleries, facebook.com/gordonartgalleries, or call (757) 683‐6271.
