Experts in Banksy restorations, Fine Art Restoration Company, have recently conserved one of the famous graffiti artist’s Lowestoft murals created in 2021, known as Sandcastle Girl. The piece will be part of The Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour, returning to Suffolk for the first time since its removal in 2022.
The Urban Frame: Mutinyin Colour will feature over 300 artworks by some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin exploring the rebellious nature of urban art, and will be held over three venues: Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, and Haverhill Hill Arts Centre. The exhibition has been organised with Brandler Galleries, who have several Banksy works in their collection.
During a respite in between lockdowns in 2021, Banksy travelled the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, creating works in what has been dubbed the ‘Great British Staycation’, with murals including a couple dancing on top of a bus shelter in Great Yarmouth and a seagull divebombing a skip in Lowestoft.
One of the best-known works created during this time was Sandcastle Girl, a mural featuring a child with a crowbar making a sandcastle, which Banksy created by incorporating nearby dug-up pavement slabs. The work was originally preserved with Perspex, before being sold to a private collector by the owners of the business it was painted on. Fine Art Restoration Company, who have preserved numerous Banksy works including the infamous Snorting Copper, have restored the Sandcastle Girl artwork to its full glory, including a full clean, and paint conservation using a customised solution to address the non-traditional aerosol paint.
The Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour, 3rd June–20th October 2023, Moyse’s Hall Museum
