[ad_1]
A new work at London Zoo has been confirmed as the work of Banksy, the ninth he has created in the capital in nine days.
The new work, which is located on a shutter at the zoo’s entrance, depicts a gorilla lifting the shutter to allow some birds to escape, while other animals’ eyes lurk in the darkness.
The work, which was posted on its official Instagram account, appears to link to the artist’s previous works, which featured animals scattered outside their natural habitats in London.
His last work, a rhino riding on a silver Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its hood, was destroyed hours after it was put on display by a man wearing a black balaclava.
The rhino piece, located on Westmoor Street in Charlton, was unveiled on Monday and a video obtained by BBC News shows a man walking up to the artwork, spray-painting it and leaving white tags on it.
The crowd gathered around the piece can be heard chanting “Don’t do it”, and as the man walks away, a voice from the crowd asks: “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?”
Since August 5, Banksy has been posting artworks on his Instagram every day around 1 p.m.
The rhino follows Sunday’s film of a man-eating fish on a police box that has been removed from near London’s Old Bailey courthouse for conservation purposes.
The anonymous artist appears to have used translucent spray paint to transform the box into a giant fish tank, with the work appearing on Ludgate Hill before being taped off by the local council.
The glass box will be temporarily kept at the offices of the City of London Corporation, less than 15 minutes’ walk from its original location.
A spokesman for the authority said: “We have moved the artwork to the Town Hall courtyard to ensure it is properly protected and safe for the public to view.
“We will decide on the permanent home of this piece in due course.”
Banksy’s first work was a goat perched on top of a wall, and he subsequently created silhouettes of elephants, monkeys, wolves, pelicans and cats, which appeared across London.
The sixth work, a cat stretched out on an empty, worn-down billboard, was removed from its location in northwest London hours after it was unveiled on Saturday.
The crowd booed as the billboard in Cricklewood was taken down by three men who said they had been “hired” by a “contracting company” to take it down for safety reasons.
The cat was the second piece of artwork to be removed last week after a satellite dish featuring a howling wolf was taken down less than an hour after it was unveiled.
A spokesperson for Banksy told the PA news agency the artist had no involvement in or support of the theft of the wolf artwork and that they were “unaware of the current whereabouts of the plate”.
The fifth work unveiled, for Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow, east London, depicts a pelican bending over to scoop up a fish from the takeaway shop’s sign, while another pelican tosses a fish into the air.
The fish and chip shop, which announced in July it would close from August 1 to September 5, left a message on its Instagram page expressing gratitude for the artwork.
The email read: “It has been a very busy few days and I would like to thank everyone who has sent their kind words, comments and messages.
“We are deeply sorry if we did not respond, you can imagine what a shock this was to us!
“We couldn’t be more delighted that Banksy decided to choose our small fish and chip shop in beautiful Walthamstow and we absolutely love the design.
“Contrary to what some people think, we did not ask him to do this, but we are very grateful that he did!” — PA Media/dpa
[ad_2]
Source link
