Banksy selected Glasgow, Scotland, to host his first solo exhibition in years due to its iconic cone statue. As a neighborhood, I can affirm the landmark is one thing Glaswegians are most happy with.

• Banksy mentioned his new exhibition is in Glasgow due to its iconic Duke of Wellington statue.
• Glaswegians have been putting cones on the statue’s head for the previous 40 years.
• I’ve at all times cherished the statue, and I hope it is going to encourage extra folks to go to Glasgow. 

The artist Banksy lately introduced his first solo exhibition in 14 years is being held in my house metropolis of Glasgow, Scotland. 

The exhibition, titled “Reduce and Run,” opened on Sunday and can happen till August 28 on the Gallery of Fashionable Artwork (GoMA). 

The explanation Banksy selected Glasgow is fairly easy: He adores the long-lasting Duke of Wellington statue that stands outdoors GoMA simply as a lot as us locals do.

The statue of Arthur Wellesley, the primary Duke of Wellington and former prime minister of the UK, was erected in 1844, in line with The Scotsman. However the motive the statue is so well-known is not about Wellesley in any respect; it is all due to the rebellious humorousness of Glaswegians, who’ve been putting a cone on prime of the statue’s head for the previous 40 years. 

In an indication welcoming visitors to his new exhibit, Banksy mentioned the statue is his “favourite murals within the UK” due to the cone, BBC Information stories.

“Regardless of one of the best efforts of the council and the police, each time one is eliminated one other takes its place,” he mentioned, the publication added.

I can affirm that the statue is iconic and beloved by Glaswegians

As somebody who was born and raised in Glasgow, the Duke of Wellington statue — which I’ve at all times merely known as “the cone statue” — has been a relentless in my life. 

I can not keep in mind a time when the statue did not have its cone, and all through the years, Glaswegians have discovered new and hilarious methods to reinvent our favourite landmark. At Christmastime, it is not unusual for males dressed as Santa Claus to climb on the statue for a photo-op, as The Herald reported in 2021.

The statue is seen as an emblem of town, and you’re unlikely to enter a vacationer or artwork store with out seeing a postcard, coaster, fridge magnet, or portray with out the statue on it. There’s even a mural within the metropolis with a caricatured model of the statue alongside the phrase “Are you Dancin?” in reference to Scotland’s well-known ceilidh dancing. 

And the landmark can maintain loads of that means to those that not reside within the metropolis. 

Ashton Burger, an American who spent an alternate semester in Glasgow within the spring of 2018, informed me she acquired a tattoo of the cone when she returned to Scotland for a trip earlier this 12 months.

Burger mentioned she studied overseas on the College of Strathclyde after a troublesome interval in her life — her father had handed away in June 2017. She mentioned her semester in Glasgow “couldn’t have come at a greater time,” and she or he met a few of her finest pals within the metropolis.

“I knew I wished to get a tattoo representing Glasgow whereas truly within the metropolis. The site visitors cone was the proper thought,” she mentioned.

“It is so particularly Glasgow and it is completely one among my favourite issues in regards to the metropolis. I take a look at my tattoo and am instantly reminded of how a lot Glasgow means to me and the way a lot my expertise there helped me once I most wanted it,” she added.

Burger’s story jogged my memory that the cone is greater than only a enjoyable punch line. For some, it is a image of how particular Glasgow is to them. And it jogs my memory how proud I’m to be from this metropolis.

I can solely hope the Banksy exhibition will encourage extra folks to go to and find out about Glasgow.