Paco Pomet at Dismaland: 7 Years Today!
7 paintings, 7 years ago.
7 years ago today (20th August, 2015) the surprise Banksy event Dismaland opened its gates to the public for the first time.
Internacional (2008) will, of course, forever be associated with this event, having gone on to become one of the first ‘viral’ paintings at a time when art and social media were really hitting it off (Banksy himself had coined the term ‘Post-Modem Art’ whilst curating the exhibition). But that painting was just 1 of 7 powerful Paco Pomet works that would captivate those coming through the doors of the dystopian theme park that summer.
Rojo (2014) fit like a glove in the gallery room that largely focused around climate change and global warming. For those seeing Pomet’s work for the first time, La Brecha (2014) and The Son (2015) were the perfect introduction to his surreal landscapes and unexpected interventions. Recuerdos (2011) and Habia Una Vez (2014) hit the nail on the head in the seaside location of Weston super Mare. And then there was the superb Glitches (2014), our personal favourite from the show.
Speaking on his art in the souvenir programme for the event, Pomet stated “it is necessary to try to be like a child sometimes, to be oblivious, to behave irresponsible to taste again those sensations of innocent happiness. Art can be like this very often.”
Those 7 paintings certainly made us smile 7 years ago.
-House of Pomet