It’s been a long time since Banksy did anything that might be regarded as controversial, but his latest artwork may restore him to the status of a genuinely edgy artist. Beloved by teenage boys forced to do art classes everywhere, Banksy’s gentle political satire has been so mainstreamed as to become fairly toothless.
But now the anonymous graffiti artist is under investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police — and may even, finally, be unmasked if he goes to trial. It was a striking piece, showing a be-wigged judge poised to strike a prone protester holding a bloodstained placard with his gavel. Arriving on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice the morning after 890 people were arrested for demonstrating support for the proscribed organisation Palestine Action, it has been received as commentary on UK state overreach in response to a public horrified by the situation in Gaza.
