Banksy: Buzz continues outside Glasgow's GoMA for show's last weekend

Signs in front of the GoMA told hopeful passersby their next entry into the exhibition which has attracted world attention would be at 3.30am tonight.

The cheery security team positioned next to these signs were full of anecdotes about the Banksy aficionados who had travelled from all corners of the globe to experience the museum - South Korea and Vancouver being stand out examples, and travelling home the next day after their slot. 

Read more: Explained: How you can choose where Banksy's Cut & Run goes next

This weekend they say they expect a largely Scottish crowd who have been scrambling for last minute tickets after letting the summer slip away without getting a chance to see the show, the likes of which probably will not be seen in Glasgow for a very long time.

Read more: Glasgow's attitude to graffiti should be changed by Banksy

Amongst those amid the building excitement in the queue were friends Eddie, Fiona and Jo, who were accompanied by Eddie’s daughter who had already been into the exhibition two weeks ago, on one of the late night slots. Even the rain and the fact that they spent an hour broken down at a service station on their journey up from Dumfries that morning did not dampen their spirits. 

“We’re just discussing who Banksy might be. We reckoned it might be someone out of Massive Attack,” Eddie joked about the English trip hop group who, like Banksy, were born out of Bristol.

On the other side of the GoMA, where the exit door back into the daylight is, I caught up with Faye McLeod, originally from Glasgow who now lives in London, and travelled home to see Banksy with her friend Lorna Mitchell, and her father John McLeod, to find out what they made of it. All three used the same word in their reviews of the show - “genius”.

Lorna Mitchell, Faye and John McLeod at GoMA in Glasgow for Banksy Cut and Run

“For me it’s really important to see an artist like Banksy in my hometown of Glasgow. It’s also really nice to go to an exhibition for an artist like Banksy, as you’re used to seeing his work singular - to go in and see it all curated together makes you realise his genius and how spot on he is in terms of our world, and it just makes you think about things. It’s got real heart, this exhibition.

“Glasgow for me has creativity at its core. As Glaswegians we take creativity really seriously and art really seriously,” said Faye.

This pride in Glasgow as an artistic place was recurrent among many of those I spoke to around GoMA. “It’s a cliché answer but it’s been good for Glasgow, and it’s all because of him,” said security guard John, nodding a few metres down the steps to the Duke of Wellington statue wearing its signature traffic cone on its head.

Banksy has said the Duke of Wellington cone hat is his favourite work of art in the UK, and was behind the inspiration to bring the show to Glasgow. For Peter Brown, a 56-year-old painter from Bath, Banksy has inspired him to want to bring his own show to Glasgow next year.

“I came up to the show when it first opened and thought I should paint this city. I just thought, Christ - what a place. There’s a subversive element to Glasgow - I get that impression from things like that cone. In my experience there’s a real directness in people here and willingness to communicate, so it’s a good fit for Banksy,” Peter explained.

Read more: How GoMA brought Banksy to Glasgow - and kept it top secret

The artistic legacy and pride Banksy’s art has left is clear. For local businesses too, the flock of visitors both Scottish and International has meant a welcome increase in custom.

Max’s Bar, down the road on Queen Street, was chosen by Banksy himself to offer a custom Irn Bru Margarita. The artist paid for free drinks tokens for all the visitors to the Friday and Saturday late slots of the exhibition - which have been claimed over one thousand times. The drink was also on offer to buy for the rest of the public, and is staying on Max’s menu after Banksy says goodbye to Glasgow on Monday.

The closing days of Banksy at GoMA in Glasgow

Bartender Thomas explains that the mini traffic cones that go with the cocktail had to be ordered in from abroad after the bar exhausted the UK’s supply, and eventually ended up with a list of customers who joined a list to be mailed an iconic cone.

“The great thing about it being on at the same time at the Fringe means people who might normally come to Edinburgh for the Fringe are making a trip to Glasgow, specifically for the exhibition,” points out owner Dario Bernardi.

Staff in the exhibition itself tell me being at the heart of such an iconic moment in Glasgow’s cultural history has been a pleasure. Reflecting on it all coming to a close, one worker, who has spent the summer in the polaroid room, summed it up: “All good things are finite. But it’s been great to have here - it’s been Glasgow’s wee baby.”