Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary authority area in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel 20 miles (32 km) south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population at the 2021 census was 82,418.
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. His 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.
Birnbeck Pier, also known as the 'Old Pier', is a pier situated on the Bristol Channel in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England, approximately 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Bristol. It is the only pier in the country which links the mainland to an island, linking to Birnbeck Island, a 1.2-hectare (3-acre) rocky island just to the west of Worlebury Hill. The grade II* listed pier was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1867. Birnbeck Pier is one of only six Grade II* piers surviving in the country. The refreshment and waiting rooms of 1898 were designed by local architect Hans Price and the clocktower and the piermaster's house have been attributed to him.
Bill Barminski is an American self taught artist and filmmaker born in Chicago, Illinois. His work has been part of creative projects such as Banksy's Dismaland, Beyond The Streets and The Cunning Little Vixen, a new media production of the Leoš Janáček opera produced by the Cleveland Orchestra. He works in many mediums and starting in 2008 began producing cardboard sculptures that focus on white forms with pinstripe outlines to convey the notion of 3 dimensional drawings. In 2018 he was a participating artist in Beyond The Streets artshow curated by Roger Gastman. In 2019 Barminski created a cardboard living room where visitors were encouraged to play with the artwork for the New York City iteration of Beyond the Streets.
Adam Bloom is a British comedian and writer. He has played The Edinburgh Festival for many years, once winning The Edinburgh Festival Polygram Punter Comedy Award. In 1998 he won The Time Out Comedy Award for Best Stand-Up. He appeared at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival 1999 and 2000, winning a Stella Artois award for the former appearance.
Ben Long is an English contemporary visual artist, known for large-scale public works that use everyday materials such as scaffolding in their construction. He lives and works in London.
Mike Ross is an American sculptor known for large scale public art projects.
King Robbo was an English underground graffiti artist. His feud with the artist Banksy was the subject of a Channel 4 television documentary called Graffiti Wars, first shown in August 2011.
The Tropicana, formerly a Lido site that once contained an outdoor swimming pool, is located in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, on the southern section of the seafront.
The year 2015 in art involves various significant events.
The Son of a Migrant from Syria is a 2015 mural by graffiti artist Banksy. The mural was located in the Calais jungle, a nickname for the encampment near Calais, France, where migrants lived as they attempted to enter the United Kingdom. The artwork depicts the late Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs—the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States—as a traveling migrant.
A pop-up exhibition is a temporary art event, less formal than a gallery or museum but more formal than private artistic showing of work. Pop-up exhibits are erroneously called pop-up museums, such as the Museum of Ice Cream but do not fit the International Council of Museums definition of a museum. The idea began in 2007 in New York City where space for exhibiting artistic work is very limited. Although the idea originated from New York City, pop-up exhibitions occur all around the world. A recent example is Banksy's Dismaland, which ran from August to September 2015.
Girl with Balloon is a series of stencil murals around London by the graffiti artist Banksy, started in 2002. They depict a young girl with her hand extended toward a red heart-shaped balloon carried away by the wind. The locations for this work include street murals in Shoreditch and the South bank in London on the Waterloo Bridge and other murals were around London, though none remain there.
Ammar Abd Rabbo is a French-Syrian journalist and photographer, born in Damascus, Syria, in 1966.
Jeff Gillette is a contemporary American artist based in Southern California. He is best known for his subversive 'slumscape' paintings ironically featuring Disney characters. He is often cited as the inspiration for Banksy's 2015 Dismaland theme park installation, in which he was a featured artist.
Caitlin Cherry is an African-American painter, sculptor, and educator.
The Walled Off Hotel is a boutique hotel in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine. It was designed by anonymous London-based artist Banksy alongside other creatives. Established in March 2017, and initially set out to only be a temporary exhibition and a word play on the Waldorf hotel chain name, the hotel has since attracted nearly 140,000 visitors, thanks in part to its location opposite the portion of the Israeli West Bank Barrier separating Bethlehem from the holy site of Rachel's Tomb.
See Monster was a temporary outdoor art installation in Weston-super-Mare, England. It was part of the nationwide arts festival Unboxed: Creativity in the UK and consisted of a converted decommissioned offshore platform featuring a garden and artworks that promoted sustainability.
