Legendary street artist Banksy has been creating stencil-style murals since the 1990s. Banksy’s work has appeared on city streets all over the world, from London and Paris to Los Angeles and Bethlehem. Now, fans of the famous (and famously incognito) street artist can appreciate more than 160 works in one place: The Banksy Museum in New York City.
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The World's Largest Banksy Museum Is Opening in NYC
A preview of New York City’s Banksy Museum is currently open in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. It’s not the first time a collection of Banksy works have been on display to the public. The American opening is the latest installation in a run of successful Banksy Museum experiences hosted in cities including Barcelona, Brussels, and Kraków. But the New York City museum is the largest to date, not only showcasing recreations of Banksy’s public murals but also studio work and audio-visual exhibitions honoring the artist.
For an artist like Banksy, whose works have disappeared from streets across the globe as readily as they’ve popped up, the museum gives admirers the chance to deep dive into the artist in one fixed location. But there’s a certain irony to the idea of a museum that celebrates an artist who’s chosen such a transitory medium — especially an outspokenly corporate-averse artist like Banksy who famously organized for the “Girl With Balloon” painting to be shredded after selling for $1.4 Million at an auction in 2018. (The shredded painting, retitled “Love is in the Bin,” later sold for $25.4 million.) The museum recognizes this.
Museum founder Hazis Vardar concedes that “Street art belongs in the raw setting of the streets.” But Vardar also recognizes that most people who view Banky murals do so on “tiny smartphone screens, which is no way to experience the scale or emotion of Banky’s works.”
To do the artist justice in a museum setting, Vardar “set out to recreate the artworks in a life-size, re-imagined space that reflects the street experience” and “employed a team of anonymous street artists, like Banksy, to recreate the work.”
If you’re interested in visiting The Banksy Museum in New York City, you can buy tickets online or in person although advance bookings are highly recommended. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $26 for students and seniors, and $21 for kids. Children ages five and under can enter for free. The museum is open daily from 10 AM to 8 PM.
The Banksy Museum: 277 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013 