Fans queue for Banksy’s Cut and Run show at Gallery of Modern Art but stencil in nearby alley said to be fake
The brickwork in the alleyway was back to its uniform black after Glasgow council workers raced to remove a rat in a bowler hat.
The fresh paint, still adorned with hazard stickers after being applied on Thursday evening, covered a stencil of a rodent that would be familiar to any fan of Banksy.
The graffito had appeared the day before, the rat wearing a union jack bowler while banging a drum emblazoned with the words “God save the King” – and Glasgow residents had immediately recognised the garb of one of the city’s traditional but highly controversial Orange parades.
Banksy’s first solo exhibition in 14 years, Cut and Run, had just opened at the nearby Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) – and tickets had sold out at speed.
But was this genuine or a fake? As Glaswegians debated its provenance, the Instagram account for Cut and Run shared the image with the teasing “yes or no?”. The exhibition’s publicists later insisted neither this nor the smattering of other rats which have appeared then disappeared across the city centre were Banksys.
In recent years, Glasgow has revelled in a street art renaissance, with the annual Yardworks festival, one of Europe’s biggest public art projects and tourist trails, taking in the city centre’s popular gable-end murals. The city council is exploring options for setting up legal walls where young people can develop their work without fear of arrest.
