Sherene Clow, Co-Host of Queer and Now 5pm Tuesdays on MainFM
Your most recent edition of the Castlemaine Mail created quite a discussion at our dinner party last weekend, when I staged the question of whether the Sign of the Times exhibition could actually have been opened by Banksy, to which my guests scoffed.
I showed them, the What’s On and they pointed out Banksy was misspelled as Banskie, but I further pointed out that one of the featured artists, Tracey Naughton has also suggest Banksy as a dinner guest earlier in the paper during the ‘My Castlemaine’ feature and this was also misspelt…a Castlemaine typo or a deeper conspiracy that suggests that not only are our artists of the finest calibre here in town, but that they also rub shoulders with artists whose identities are unknown to us mere mortals.
Here is one quote from that night from my radio co-host Amalie, “Whilst Castlemaine is an enviable, formidable hub of artists and creatives, and has been for many years, the idea that the – not just elusive but *anonymous* – Banksy himself would physically show up to open an exhibition here is quite frankly hilarious. We have spent the last few days giggling uncontrollably at the mere idea of it. I mean maybe he did? Even if there were pictures of the event, no one would be able to prove or disprove that the person ‘cutting the ribbon’ at Lot 19 was Banksy because no one in the world knows what the man looks like. Sorry, off to giggle again.”
So can anyone sort this out for us? It was discussed again on MainFM on Tuesday at 5pm…was Banksy actually here and brazen enough to open a local exhibition?
Editor’s Note: We are told that ‘Banksie’ did in fact open the exhibition, but as to who Banksie or Banksy was I guess only those in attendance will really know. And perhaps that’s the way it should be if Banksy is to retain his mystery. Be sure to catch the final weekend of the show this weekend, with an artist’s talk Sunday at 2pm.