Now we know the mysterious piece of artwork which appeared in the Gay Village is not by Banksy, we take a look at some of the other pieces definitely not by him. And we’ve got a few.
The mystery mural appeared ‘overnight’ painted on the side of Sidewalk bar on Kent Street and shows Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz reaching for a pair of ruby high-heels hung on a nearby electric cable.
However, Banksy has not claimed the mural on social media, and in a statement his team said: “This work is not by the artist Banksy.” The actual artist behind the Dorothy mural has not yet been revealed.
Banksy’s last confirmed artwork appeared on a building in Finsbury Park in north London, in March. Banksy’s last visit to Birmingham was recorded in 2019, when a mural appeared in the Jewellery Quarter depicting a pair of galloping reindeers, in a powerful message about homelessness. It was defaced within hours of being unveiled, with the reindeers sprayed to have red noses.
But Banksy aside, Brum isn’t short of some amazing public artworks. We take a look at some of the weird and strange pieces of art which are ‘definitely’ not by Banksy in the city.
The piece, Play by sculptor John Bridgeman was commissioned in the early 1960s, an abstract sculpture in concrete, for a Birmingham City Council playground, on Curtis Gardens, on a housing estate on Fox Hollies Road in the Acocks Green.
It is the only one of a series of playground sculptures by Bridgeman, who was head of sculpture at Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts.
In February 2015, the piece was grade II listed by the Department for Culture.
(Image: Birmingham Mail/Darren Quinton)Tucked under the Hockley flyover most people wouldn’t even know it was there. Another splendid example of subway art found underneath the flyover.
It’s a set of Bill Mitchell concrete sculptures rated as some of his best art. There are three amazing concrete sculptures which form three corners of a large square.
In Old Square, in Corporation Street, we find Kenneth Budd’s representational fibreglass mural from 1967.
It portrays the square’s history from the 13th to the mid-19th century.
(Image: Graham Young)Originally sited in the public space under the roadways, this mural was designed to hang on a larger wall.
Today the impact of this piece is diminished as it blends into a grey background. You need to get up very close to begin to appreciate the story.
Fox and Hollybush, a sandstone relief sculpture on the wall of the Lidl store Olton Boulevard East, Acocks Green.
(Image: Birmingham Mail/Darren Quinton)The art work dates from 1927 by William Bloye at Birmingham sculptor studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art later his training was interrupted by World War I, when he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1915 to 1917.
The artwork was originally on the former Fox Hollies pub which was demolished to make way for the supermarket.
(Image: Birmingham Mail/Darren Quinton)Holloway ‘Pagoda’ Circus, at the point where Horse Fair meets Smallbrook Queensway’s curvaceous avenue towards the Bullring.
Virtually everyone in Birmingham will have been round this roundabout at some point, either in a car, taxi or bus, but try visiting it on foot, too.
Although the network of underpasses is not one you’d readily try at certain times.
More impressive is the key feature you cannot readily see from the road. This is the extraordinary mosaic depicting activities in the Horse Fair which took place in this area until 1911, the last remaining fair of a 1215 charter granted by King Henry III.
The giant mural was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Alderman H. E. Tyler JP on June 30, 1966, shortly before England won the World Cup.
The Lanchester Car Monument in Nechells is a galvanized steel sculpture of the Stanhope Phaeton, or Lanchester motor car in Bloomsbury Village Green.
It was designed by Tim Tolkien to commemorate the work of Frederick William Lanchester who made various improvements to engines, including a self-starting device, whilst designing the first British petrol motor car, leading to the Lanchester Motor Company.
(Image: Birmingham Mail/Darren Quinton)Tucked into Senneleys Park in Bartley Green, this sculpture has well and truly been abandoned. Covered in moss and believed to once have a bronze statue on top, but overthe years due to vandalism, has been removed.
Created by the sculptor was Avtarjeet Dhanjal, and made from Portland stone in the late 1980s, just the green stones remain.
(Image: Elliott Brown)The statue called ‘Youth’ by Harry Seager, was created in 1958. Situated near the bottom of Melvina Road in Duddeston, close to the railway line, it was unveiled in 1959. Owned by Birmingham City Council, it shows the figure of a pony-tailed girl, influenced by the famous artist, Henry Moore.
Commissioned by the Public Works Department in 1958, the sculpture was selected from several models put forward by the artist who was living in Smethwick at the time and cost of £370 at the time.
The Industry and Genius installation outside Baskerville House in Centenary Square. On the columns of Portland Stone are reversed bronze letters spelling Virgil, the Roman poet whose works were printed by Baskerville in the famous typeface that bears his name, in 1757. Pictured in 2009.
(Image: Jeremy Pardoe)We all walk past through Centenary Square and never even notice what this is, so next time you are passing Baskerville House, just have a look and think about why they are there.
(Image: Neil Pugh)Battle of the Gods and Giants sculpture near the ICC seen on the 21st April 2009. It was sculptured by Roderick Tye and was intended to symbolise Birmingham’s struggle to rebuild it’s centre.
(Image: Elliott Brown)A giant watch chain on the side of the Minories. Never managed to work out what this was all about.
(Image: Birmingham Live)The Cube bronze sculptures by Wolverhampton born Artist Temper called ‘Friendly People’, at the launch 9th October 2010.
(Image: BPM)The Forward Statue in Birmingham’s Centenary Square reduced to nothing in a matter of minutes after it was engulfed in flames, 15th April 2003.
(Image: News Team International)Flame of Hope in Centenary Square set up for the Millennium and burned bright for a few years until an argument developed over who pays the bill and possibly not the greenest of sculptures.
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)Everyone’s favourite, King Kong standing in Manzoni Gardens in The Bull Ring at his unveiling May 1972.
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)The ‘Rhinestone Rhino’ at the gateway Hurst Street, unveiled in 2012 for Birmingham Pride.
The Wattilisk outside Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts.
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)The Knight of the Vale outside Castle Vale by John McKenna.
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)The birdman of the Rotunda, Benjamin Verdonck, enticing shoppers in the Bullring to take notice of him in his nest which is clinging precariously to the side of the Rotunda building. May 2005 as part of the Fierce Festival.
(Image: Jeremy Pardoe)Pig Pen – part of Fierce’s Ho Down event at Fierce Festival 2022 by Japanese artist Saeborg.
(Image: Nick Wilkinson)Dachshunds from across the country in the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Saturday 31st March 2012 for an art installation by Bennett Miller called ‘Dachshund U.N.’ as part of the Fierce festival. The scaled down replica of the United Nations office in Geneva set up to hold 47 nations are represented by an individual dachshund.
(Image: BPM)The mural NOT by Banksy in the Gay Village.
(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)This one definitely is a Banksy outside the Jewellery Quarter Station on December 2019.
(Image: Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)
