Free to See - Exhibition of Banksy Paintings & Murals - Billionaires Welcome To Buy! And Would-be Billionaires!

Getting to Banksy via Bank Station

Directions from Bank station to the Royal Exchange. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I recommend a visit to see Banksy paintings at the Red8 Gallery in the Royal Exchange near Bank station in the historic city of London. Seeing Banksy may cost more time than you expected - firstly allow twenty minutes for the seven to ten minute walk from Bank station, Underground. I went up 14 stairs, along a corridor, an escalator, another corridor, another long escalator, past the wide entrance to the Elizabeth line, Another corridor, a circular corridor past numerous exits at which point the Royal Exchange is marked as Exit 3. Out of the exit; you are faced with a magnificent building, Britain at its best. 

The Royal Exchange

Royal Exchange, London, exterior, photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

Yes, you can enter the Royal Exchange, even if you are a mere pleb. Inside is a shopping mall, with the glamorous bar of Fortnum and Mason in the centre. 

The welcoming and helpful doorman courteously walked me to the right hand exit where I turned left, following his smiling and nodding instructions. As he had told me, only a few paces brought me to my target, the delightful Red8 gallery. 

Red 8 Gallery

The frontage is  a window, and  inside around the ground floor are sensible sized Banksy paintings which you could hang on any wall in any office or public building or home. 

For details on the red8 name see the previous post.

Prices

To find more details and prices if you are interested in buying, hold your phone up to capture the QR code by each picture. I didn't do so. I was too busy discussing the paintings.

Discussing Banksy

Upstairs is another room with framed paintings all around. You can spend an hour here, enjoying looking at each one, guessing the implications, and discussing with your spouse or companions what the symbols and absurdities signify.

Not everyone agrees with Banksy's political opinions. 'T' said, "I don't agree with all his views. He is anti war. One of his dividing wall murals, he has scrawled the word Palestine. Wars tend to have a baddie against a goody and the goodies have to fight, or the baddies take over the world. We might agree repression is bad. He is also saying which side he is on. Not everybody would agree.

"But you must admire his skill. Every picture captures your attention. They are so realistic. He captures the people."

Prices

What if you want one? I did not see any affordable postcards, unlike London's national and modern gallery shops. I discussed prices with a PR person, a visitor, who was considering buying one. He said: "I am interested purely from an investment point of view. Now that I am retired, I buy items as an investment and sell them. I bought one of the Banksy paintings and the price doubled. It was a good investment."

I went there on opening night. I was probably invited because I am a blogger and a journalist. But you could have signed up online, another guest told me. 

Banksy is not the only artist available. On their website you can see prints at three hundred pounds and up.

Banksy pictures in the gallery. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Fair Cop

Cop in London outside Banksy exhibition. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Outside was a benign British bobby. (For any American readers, a bobby is a cop.) He was happy to be photographed with me. I wasn't sure whether he was protecting the paintings, the people at the gallery, passers-by from drunks, drunks from traffic, or the passageway along the pavement. Or was he just curious to see the picture of the cop by Banksy? I didn't dare to ask.

Useful Websites

Email address: info@redeightgallery.com

The exhibition is open to the public from today until the 15th September 2022.

https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

https://www.redeightgallery.com/key-reasons-why-art-prints-are-worth-your-investment/

See previous post on the Red Eight Gallery.

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What do see and do for free at iexperience in Singapore

I was walking along the basement mall at Esplanade station when I stopped to watch a mother and child playing on a free press-the-screen game inserted in the wall.

A few yards further along I discovered the Iexperience exhibition. I hesitated in the doorway, unsure whether it was a entrance to a  technology company or sales office, or an exhibition which would be expensive, but the girl on the desk beckoned me in and said it was free.

Ah, I thought, it must be some government initiative on how we are developing the city. I stepped in. What a pity I was alone. I'd like to go back with a friend. A Singaporean would relate all the ideas to what is going on and high technology in Singapore. An American would give me an American perspective. Anybody in science or technology would have more comments to add.

Litter Collector
What did I like most? The litter bin which alerts when it is nearly full so somebody comes to empty it.
The like the idea of a litter collection box which would speak to you, notice if you dropped something, tell you which box, or sort it for you.

School Desk
The idea of a school desk which is a complete work station. Not just a chair with a fold up rest for your writing pad. A miniature office with a screen, wi-fi, phone charger, contact to teacher in the same room or another room, or contact to chat about the homework or project with friends across the room, without shouting and disturbing the class.

Office Pod
I liked the idea of the office pod. Instead of just a phone box, a complete office, with chair, desktop, screen, wifi, phone charger, printer, and so on. Not free but maybe £10+VAT or about 20 Singapore dollars Plus for 20 minutes or an hour, idea for business people on the go, meetings, follow-up to meetings, sealing a deal you made over lunch, getting your thoughts down immediately after a meeting, instant thank you and follow up.

Perfect for travellers. Sending messages home to mother, and the family, as well. Plus booking a taxi or an air ticket, not standing on the corner of the street, vulnerable to pickpockets or somebody seeing your mobile phone, and not being overheard. Great idea.

The best part of the exhibition was when I stopped to say thank you at the end. I noticed a sign Id missed on the way in and asked for an explanation. If you like their page on Facebook as a thank you they will print out a photo for you, about half the size of a postcard, just right to slip into a purse or pocket.

It's free, educational, and you even get a free gift.

If you have to meet somebody at a central station, this would be a good place to meet. Whoever arrives first has an amusement. It's open from 10 am to 8 pm. MRT Esplanade or City Hall. It's in a linkway between the two.

Looking online I find there's another experience in Cape Town, South Africa.
Pictures have been added to a later post. Blogger picture load up is not working on this post.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, teacher, tutor.