The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum’s Street Art Season was seen by over 15000 people, making it the most popular art exhibition ever shown at the museum, and second most popular exhibition after Wallace and Gromit in 2009.
The exhibition featured Street Art: Contemporary Prints from the V&A, and the Herbert was the first UK venue to show the brand new exhibition. The exhibition was complimented by Fresh Paint, work by six emerging artists commissioned by the Herbert, and Breaking Down the Wall by celebrated aerosol artist Mohammed Ali.
Since the exhibition opened to the public with a 2,000 strong attendance, they’ve attended the events, talks, film screenings, family activities and workshops in their droves with over 1000 people adding their own artistic flair to the exhibition by creating street art on our paste-up wall. One unknown individual even went as far as creating his own fake Banksy bank notes and leaving them in the exhibition leading to a flurry of excitement as the gallery tried to get them verified.
Exhibition Officer Dominic Bubb said “The fact that someone went to the trouble of creating a very good fake Banksy bank note just shows the influence Street Art has had on people. In a way, these fakes are artworks in their own right.
“The response shown by the visitors has been overwhelming, especially for the Fresh Paint artists. We’ve tried to open up this art world to people who perhaps didn’t know or understand it; our weekly art giveaway has been a massive success with some people stalking out the hiding spot before we’d even arrived. Importantly the visitor profile for this exhibition also reflects a change in marketing focus. This exhibition’s has been very helpful in successfully engaging local students to supplement core family audiences at the Herbert and this is something we will continue to develop in the year ahead.
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