Travelers at Milan’s main train station will this week be able to take a break among reproductions of murals by elusive street artist Banksy
“The Word of Banksy — The Immersive Experience” opens Friday in the Mosaics Gallery, on the rail level of Milan’s monumental Central Station.
It features reproductions of some of Banksy's best-known pieces, such as “Nola,” created in 2008 out of sympathy with the people of hurricane-battered New Orleans.
Banksy’s street art has been recreated by young European artists and installed against backgrounds mimicking their original street setting.
“When it was a brick wall, we made a brick wall, when it is a cement wall we made a cement wall, when they are dirty from time and pollution we made them dirty with special effects,” the show’s curator, Manu De Ros, said during a preview Thursday.
New works reproduced include “Aachoo!!,” depicting a mask-less woman sneezing and knocking her dentures off, and “Steve Jobs,” which Banksy painted on a wall at the entrance to the Calais encampment of migrants hoping to reach England.
The show is a follow-up to an earlier Milan exhibition that later traveled to Paris, Barcelona, Prague, Brussels and Dubai It is open through Feb. 27.
The exhibition is unauthorized, but the curator notes it's also been unchallenged so far.
“He doesn’t stop them from happening, which pushes us to think that he could be happy with the work we have done,” De Ros said. “He may also appreciate the fact that we send out the messages he wishes to send out.”
