The anonymous artist Banksy has revealed seven new artworks over the past seven days, each one appearing in a different corner of London.
On Sunday (11 August), street artist Banksy unveiled his seventh consecutive artwork of the week – swimming piranhas painted on to a 1990s City of London Police sentry box.
The public work, located on Ludgate Hill, near St Paul’s Cathedral, was first spotted on Sunday morning and verified by the artist on social media.
Banksy’s translucent fish form the seventh piece in a surprise animal-themed art series that started last week.
While there has been wide speculation about the meaning of the project, Banksy has reportedly said his intention is to lift the public’s spirit during a period when the news headlines have been bleak, as well as to highlight the human ability for creative play rather than destruction and negativity.
It began on Monday (6 August), when a goat, perched precariously on a ledge with rocks falling down below it, was unveiled by the artist.
Hot on the heels of his goat-themed work, Banksy dropped an image of another animal artwork on his Instagram page on Tuesday (6 August). This time, the animal silhouettes were two elephants in Chelsea, looking out at each other from blocked-out windows, their trunks almost touching.
Then came, three swinging monkeys across a railway bridge in Brick Lane, East London.
Thursday’s contribution was a howling wolf on a satellite dish, positioned to look as if it were howling at the moon, installed on a garage roof in Peckham. However, within a few hours of its debut, the artwork was removed by masked individuals who scaled a ladder to retrieve the satellite dish.
On Friday, residents of Walthamstow discovered a pair of playful pelicans fishing above a fish and chip shop. Then on Saturday, a stencil of a cat stretching appeared on a billboard in Cricklewood, which which was later taken down by contractors citing “safety reasons”.
Each day the artist has verified these works on his Instagram at 1pm (BST). It is unclear yet whether the artist will continue with this daily animal-series.
Banksy’s latest pieces of street art come after the Bristol artist drew ire for a stunt at Glastonbury in June, which saw an imitation of migrant boat created by the artist crowd surfing during performances by indie punk band Idles (also from Bristol) and rapper Little Simz.
The then home secretary James Cleverly criticised the stunt for “trivialising” small boats crossings, describing the artistic action as “vile”.
Responding to Cleverly’s comments, the artist said it was the “real boat” he funds – the MV Louise Michel – being detained by Italian authorities, after it had rescued 17 unaccompanied children at sea, that he found “vile and unacceptable”.
The artist, whose identity remains unknown, last painted in the British capital when he sprayed green paint on a wall behind a cut-back tree.