Day 763: Cut & Run

27/08/2023

Friday morning, Eloise was practicing her writing, she was quite happy with her ‘s’ so made sure that Lachlan took a photo for her.

Super Mum and Lachlan left Eloise at home with a great snack setup as they jumped off to Lachlan’s morning gymnastics session, he could not wait. They have been fantastic classes that they both love.

After lunch, we dropped Eloise off at her afternoon gymnastics and left her in Emma and Jo’s hands, thank you again Jo. The three of us then dashed into the city it was turning into a lovely day after the morning shower had drenched our backyard washing.

We were excited that we were finally heading to see Banksy’s Cut & Run Exhibition, we had accidentally booked a session over Eloise’s gymnastics. Glasgow was thrilled to announce that Banksy had chosen the Gallery of Modern Art to host his exhibition because it was behind his “favourite work of art in the UK”, the Duke of Wellington. After missing Banksy Masters at Moco Museum in Amsterdam last year we purchased tickets the day it was announced and just managed to get tickets for the final weekend, it has been the talk of the city and “attracted 180,000 visitors during its 10-week run”.

As we entered our phones were locked away in a Yondr pouch, the exact same ones used in South Australia high school mobile bans. You can see some of the reinforced original stencils that he has painted over below. They were well displayed with the light cast through them revealing their detailed shadows behind. Out of all the art exhibitions we have been through, this was certainly the most fun.

We loved the electronics prototypes, plans, and stories behind Banksy’s famous shredded painting stunt that sold for more than $34M. It was fascinating to see how it all came together, the parts he used, and the explanation of why it did not quite go to plan.

Lachlan woke up as we made our way into the largest of the rooms and he could not have timed it better. He was thrilled to see Banky’s New York ‘Sirens of the Lambs’. “The British graffiti artist Banksy has unleashed a disturbing delivery truck on the streets of New York City, sending cuddly farmyard animals to the slaughterhouse. Appropriately enough, the truck is currently touring the meatpacking district before moving on to the rest of the city… The animals’ faces look adorable, but the truck emits a loud screaming noise that indicates the creatures are in distress. According to an audio guide on Banksy’s website, the animals’ heads are controlled by a team of mime artists inside the vehicle”. As we made our way throughout the room, Lachlan noticed that people were actually walking through the truck and controlling the animals with the bike mechanisms, he did not need an invite and was out of the pram heading up the stairs.

We are not sure where the exhibition is heading next, Banksy has asked the public for suggestions, we would strongly recommend it. Coincidentally, in Adelaide “The The Art Of Banksy: “Without Limits” has finally opened its gates and tickets are still on sale! However, this has come with even more controversy as “Banksy has made his feelings clear about unauthorized exhibits like “The Art of Banksy””, and was forced to make the statement “Banksy has NOTHING to do with any of the current or recent exhibitions, and they are nothing like a genuine Banksy show,” reads a statement from the artist. “They might be crap so please don’t come to us for a refund””.

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls and bridges throughout the world. Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack. Banksy’s name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. In a 2003 interview with Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Banksy is described as “white, 28, scruffy casual—jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of The Streets.” Banksy began as an artist at the age of 14, was expelled from school, and served time in prison for petty crime. According to Hattenstone, “anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal”. Banksy reportedly lived in Easton, Bristol, during the late 1990s, before moving to London around 2000.

While we were in the artsy mood, we passed back through Buchanan Galleries to pick up some mega art that caught our attention a month or so ago.

Eloise had a lovely afternoon with Emma and the twins and luckily Jo had even made Eloise her favorite dinner, pizza!

Saturday morning, Lachlan had his shoes on nice and early and was eager to get to his second Football Buzz session. It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, we were hopeful for an outdoor session but it was sadly not the case. It was another brilliant session, after turning on his listening ears, Dad was impressed with how well he was listening, copying the coach and his footwork.

Full of energy, Lachlan was keen to make the most of the sun and work on his swing. Which reminds us, we still need to get a game of golf under our belt soon, running out of time.

At the same time, Eloise was getting her Aussie on and made an impressive batch of lamingtons for our big event in the evening.

In the evening we had another secondees catch up to celebrate a family ticking over their one-year mark, Oh my! How time does fly. There has been a bit of a changing of the guard this week with two families heading back for a double summer and some new faces arriving. We are now the longest serving here and handing out plenty of unqualified advice.

This morning, Eloise was pretending to be a teddy and joined the teddy basket. However, this just frustrated Lachlan who could not put the rest of the teddies in the basket.

After we had turned the house back up the right way and had lunch we made our way to Kirkintilloch’s Canal Festival. We had seriously undercooked the size of the festival, it was enormous, the streets were packed. We started by checking out the vintage cars, as you can tell, Eloise was absolutely thrilled to be checking out cars. Her radar had gone quiet as there was no face paint in the area.

Eloise quickly turned a corner when she noticed drums to play, even taking off her cardigan, she meant business.

The drums woke up Lachlan, who again, had no idea where he was. We pushed on through the wee market until a choir caught Lachlan’s attention.

By this stage, we figured that we should actually go check out the canal, seeing it was a canal festival. The long canal boats were going surprisingly fast. The boats looked packed so we skipped out on the canal boat ride, been there, done that.

The Canal Festival went on as long as the eye could see, it was pumping loud with all the rides and sideshow games. Eloise did not know which direction to run.

Perhaps it was due to the large crowds, Eloise could not find the face painting stall so had to settle for face painting at home.

While we are waiting for our visas to get extended and are trapped in the country, Lachlan was not wasting any time, making sure he stayed in tip-top shape and in form for his next airport dash.

Even after King of Lochs, Lachlan, could not find Nessie it had not deterred the masses this weekend. However, “The mystery of the fabled Loch Ness monster endures despite a weekend of mass-participation Nessie hunting. About 200 volunteers kept a lookout for mysterious events from the shoreline, but spotted nothing unusual. Observers on a boat using acoustic equipment reported four unidentified “gloops” but then realised their recording device wasn’t plugged in. Organisers said visitors from around the world joined the hunt despite appalling weather”.