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Banksy has sprayed nine animal silhouettes onto the streets of London since early August – and art fans are rushing to catch a glimpse of the rare works while they still can.
A mural of a goat perched on top of a wall in Richmond was the first of the animal series to pop up in the capital.
Banksy claimed ownership of the goat silhouette with tumbling rocks on the side of a building near Kew Bridge on Instagram on 5 August.
Since then, elephants in Chelsea, monkeys in Shoreditch, a pelican on a fish and chip shop in Walthamstow and piranhas in central London have been confirmed as originals by the elusive street artist.
A – since vandalised – rhino appeared mounting a car in Charlton, and a now removed primate-led escape was painted at the entrance to London Zoo.
Two of the new street art pieces – a wolf on a satellite dish and a cat on a billboard – were also stolen and taken down.
It’s the latest art series from Banksy following high criticism of the small boat filled with migrant dummies in orange life jackets the street artist crowd surfed at Glastonbury Festival.
A Banksy mural caused a stir in London on 18 March with street art that many discerned to be a statement on environmental politics in the city.
The British street artist’s artwork was back on the map for the first time since December after the tree mural appeared on the side of a building on Hornsey Road in Finsbury Park.
A green paint splash behind a cut-back tree, with a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose to the side, was officially claimed by Banksy in an uncaptioned Instagram post.
Since reaching notability in the late 1990s, Banksy has hosted exhibitions including the Dismaland Bemusement Park in 2015, the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem with “the worst view in the world”, and a Cut & Run project in Glasgow last year to officially display his art.
Though his work spans the continents, with artistic stints in New York, Paris and Ukraine outside of the UK, galleries and building owners often auction or relocate the prized pieces to avoid vandalism, and the appearance of most murals is fleeting.
Several of the graffiti artist’s famed rat stencils still exist in the capital, and past works scatter the Bristol harbourside where his spray painting career began.
As crowds flock to London to see the animal silhouettes while they still can, here’s where to go to see Banksy’s art around the world.
London
Edith Terrace, Chelsea
Banksy unveiled two elephants poking their heads out of blocked-out windows on the side of a house in south-west London.
The Bristol-based street artist shared a photo of the wall art, which features two elephant silhouettes with their trunks stretched out towards each other, on Instagram on Tuesday 6 August.
Brick Lane, Shoreditch
An artwork of three monkeys was the third piece of the new animal-themed collection.
On Wednesday Banksy posted an image on Instagram of the monkeys looking as though they were swinging on the bridge of an east London tube station.
Three monkeys have been associated with the Japanese proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
Pretoria Avenue, Walthamstow
An artwork of pelicans pinching fish from a London chip shop sign was the fifth piece in what appears to be an animal-themed series.
The new artwork is on Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow and sees one bird stooping down to scoop up a fish on the takeaway’s sign, while another is tossing one in the air.
Guildhall Yard, City of London
Banksy confirmed he is behind a new swimming fish artwork which has appeared on a police sentry box in the City of London.
The artist appears to have used translucent spray paint on the glass windows to create the design, turning the sentry box into what looks like a giant fish tank.
To “preserve” the new artwork, the governing body of the City of London relocated the artwork to Guildhall Yard “to ensure it is properly protected and open for the public to view safely”.
Kew Bridge, Richmond
On 5 August the silhouette of a goat with large horns teetering on the edge of a wall with a CCTV camera pointed at the falling rubble beneath it appeared in south-west London.
Social media users were quick to speculate on the meaning of the new mural.
One commented: “Goats are adapted to climbing on narrow ledges, so it isn’t in danger, but the camera’s view doesn’t give the full picture. So I’d guess that it’s referencing the need to understand that news needs context before forming an opinion.”
Westmoor Street, Charlton
A rhino mounting a silver Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet was revealed by Banksy on 12 August.
The latest artwork to be unveiled was defaced by a man wearing a black balaclava with white spray paint just hours after it went up.
London Zoo, Regent’s Park
The ninth instalment of the animal series appeared on a shutter at London Zoo’s entrance.
A gorilla is seen lifting the exit allowing several birds to escape, while the eyes of other animals can be seen lurking in the darkness.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) confirmed that it will protect the image and plans to leave the shutter down for thousands of visitors to view the gorilla on Tuesday 13 August.
Hornsey Road, Finsbury Park
This mural painted in north London in March was confirmed to be by Banksy. The artwork, on the side of a building on Hornsey Road in Finsbury Park, features green paint sprayed on the building in front of a cut-back tree, creating the impression of foliage.
At the time, a Hornsey Road resident told The Independent: “It’s just great – when we read about it last night, we knew we to come and see it as soon as possible.
“We feel so proud to think he chose our street.”
The mural was defaced by vandals with two licks of white paint just two days after it appeared, a giant plastic sheet and a fence are now in place to protect the artwork and deter vandalism.
Rivington Street, Shoreditch
You’ll find a guard and his poodle behind plexiglass in Banksy’s Designated Graffiti Area on Rivington Street in the yard of the now-closed Cargo nightclub in Shoreditch. The 2003 mural His Master’s Voice (also known as Rocket Dog), also lives inside the old railway tunnel.
Marble Arch, Westminster
In 2019, an artwork believed to be by Banksy appeared at Marble Arch, depicting a show of support for the Extinction Rebellion protests. The painting shows a young child holding the Extinction Rebellion emblem alongside the words: “From this moment despair ends and tactics begin.”
Westminster City Council erected a protective frame to preserve the poignant piece in its original place.
Church Street, Stoke Newington
Banksy’s royal family parody in Stoke Newington remains partially intact after protesting locals halted Hackney Council’s 2009 attempt to black out the east London caricature with paint.
Chrisp Street, Poplar
This Poplar piece played on the headlines of the 2011 phone-hacking scandal that plagued the media. The stick figure next to a water tap has a speech bubble that says, “Oh no... my tap’s been phoned”, and is now spattered with multicoloured paint splotches following defacement attempts.
Bristol
Frogmore Street, Clifton
Well Hung Lover was originally painted on the side of a Frogmore Street sexual health clinic in 2006 that has since relocated. Several defacements, including blue paintball shots and black spray paint, have had to be partially removed by the council over the years to restore the creative portrayal of an extramarital affair.
Hanover Place, Spike Island
This 2014 mural by the anonymous artist, the Girl with a Pierced Eardrum, is a take on Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s famous Girl with a Pearl Earring,instead using an outdoor security alarm to stud her lobe.
The mural was vandalised with black paint shortly after it appeared, and was even updated to wear a hospital mask in 2020 as NHS staff battled the coronavirus pandemic.
Birmingham
Vyse Street, Jewellery Quarter
A message about homelessness appeared in reindeer form next to a Birmingham bench in 2019.
Banksy’s official Instagram account posted a video of festive artwork captioned: “God bless Birmingham. In the 20 minutes we filmed Ryan on this bench passers-by gave him a hot drink, two chocolate bars and a lighter – without him ever asking for anything.”
The artwork was later vandalised with red noses and was subsequently protected by Network Rail behind a perspex screen.
California
West 9th Street, Los Angeles
Banksy hosted an art exhibition around Los Angeles called Barely Legal in 2006. This piece, which shows a girl swinging from the “A” on a parking sign, is significantly more obstructed than it was at its creation almost two decades ago, with highrise construction taking place in the original car park, but it can still be seen from between the buildings at the intersection of South Broadway and West 9th Street.
Venice
Rio Novo Canal, Dorsoduro
Banksy’sThe Migrant Child mural, near the Ponte di San Pantalon along the Rio Novo canal, appeared in Venice in 2019 during the Biennale art festival. The image of a young migrant in a lifejacket holding up a pink flare has deteriorated over the last five years due to corrosion by the elements, and Italy’s culture ministry announced controversial plans to restore the damaged mural at the end of 2023, cementing its position on the canal.
Paris
41 Avenue de Flandre
Now protected by a screen, this Parisian painting of a masked horse-rider is a reinterpretation of a famous portrait of Napoleon on horseback by Jacques-Louis David, but this time fully wrapped in his red cloak.
Captioned “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV”, the art is believed to take aim at the poor management by France of the refugee crisis. The mural appeared in 2018, eight years after the French decision to ban full face coverings, including burqas and niqabs, in 2010.
New York
233 W 79th Street, Upper West Side
The Better Out Than In residency sprayed New York with Banksy graffiti for a month in October 2013. Though many of the artworks were defaced or vandalised quickly after they debuted, one mural, Hammer Boy, depicting a young boy’s silhouette smashing a fire hydrant with a hammer, was preserved in the city and is a hotspot for fans of the elusive artist.
Ukraine
Kyiv, Irpin and Borodyanka
In 2022, seven murals of solidarity were created by Banksy around wartorn Ukraine, including a gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble, a judo competition, a woman with a gas mask, and an old man taking a bath, all against the backdrop of destroyed buildings.
Many of the artworks were preserved with plexiglass, and some were relocated from bombarded towns, such as Borodyanka, as tower blocks were demolished as a result of damage caused by the fighting. Currently, the UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Ukraine.
Read more on the wild theories over identity of world-famous artist
