These pictures show the moment Banksy climbed into a cherry picker wearing a face mask and hard hat as he prepared to paint his latest street art on a wall in west London.
Footage captured by CCTV cameras showed the cherry picker van with two men dressed in orange high-vis clothing and helmets.
One of the men, who is masked, is believed to be elusive guerrilla artist Banksy, famed for his politically themed works. Accompanied by a friend, he is seen in the back of the cherry picker van with the two locked in conversation.
The footage was captured at around 5am on Monday. A painting showing a goat balancing on top of some masonry appeared on the exterior wall of an engineering company near Kew Bridge that morning.
Bosses from Boss & Co, which builds exclusive guns, told MailOnline that they noticed the new artwork when they arrived for work.
One of the men, who is masked (right), is believed to be elusive guerrilla artist Banksy, famed for his politically themed works
Footage captured by CCTV cameras showed the cherry picker van with two men dressed in orange high-vis clothing and helmets at around 5am on Monday
The pair of men are seen in the back of the cherry picker van locked in conversation
Banksy yesterday revealed a new artwork featuring a goat perched on top of a wall in West London
An official said: ‘We noticed the artwork first thing in the morning and assumed it must be a Banksy.
‘Then we checked our security footage and saw the two men. They then pushed our security camera up and you can’t see them after that. It happened around 5am and they were there for about half an hour.’
Scores of people gathered outside the firm to view Banksy’s latest work, which according to some reports, depicts a gazelle.
The official added: ‘It’s good but we don’t want the publicity. At the moment we’ve got no plans to remove it and are thinking of protecting it with some Perspex. It must be worth at least £10,000.’
Banksy confirmed the piece on his Instagram page and there has been much speculation about its meaning.
Art teacher, Amber Doffman, 26, spotted the artist’s Instagram post and immediately recognised its location before rushing straight out the door to go and find it.
She said: ‘I saw his post on Instagram 40 seconds after it went up and I immediately recognised where the art was.
‘So I got in my car and raced there. I was there 15 minutes after he posted on Instagram – and the paint was still wet.’
People look at the the new Banksy piece of artwork near Kew Bridge of a goat on a wall
A new Banksy mural has appeared by Kew Bridge in London
The artist’s new piece in London features the goat silhouette with rocks falling down below it
A member of the public takes a photo of Banksy’s new piece of artwork near Kew Bridge
Employees move a CCTV camera back to its original position after Banksy moved it
Banksy has unveiled a new piece of artwork near Kew Bridge in West London
A new Banksy mural has appeared by Kew Bridge, London
Ms Doffman, who lives in Acton, said she has been writing to Banksy for years – and just a few months ago emailed him asking him to come to west London.
‘I emailed him asking him to come to West London and now here he is,’ the teacher said. ‘I’ll tell myself I made this happen. I mean, probably not – but it is a huge coincidence. I just can’t believe he was standing there. It’s unbelievable.’
Ms Doffman added that she believes the artwork is ‘to do with the environment – and how we’ve ruined it to the point that animals don’t know where to go anymore’.
She continued: ‘It’s also worth noting that that security camera wasn’t facing that way before. Banksy has turned it towards the goat. It’s like it’s wanting its attention.’
A worker was later seen climbing up a ladder and turning the security camera back the other way.
Ms Doffman added that the occasion was particularly special for her – because Banksy is the reason she took up the career she did.
She said: ‘He is my idol and the reason I became an art teacher. I am beyond inspired by Banksy. I hope they cover it with Perspex immediately before someone ruins it – I’m so scared it will get vandalised.’
The artwork is Banksy’s first since a stunt at Glastonbury Festival in June in which an inflatable dinghy full of dummies dressed as migrants launched into the crowd, live on the BBC.
It happened during a set by alternative chart-toppers Idles, who had led the crowd in a chant of ‘f*** the king’, which was also broadcast live on BBC Four as part of their coverage of the long-running music and arts festival in Somerset.
People walking past a stencilled Banksy artwork, depicting a mountain goat and falling rubble at the top of a pillar, on the side of a building in Kew Gardens, west London
Women walk dogs past a mural depicting a goat, purportedly by the street artist Bansky, on August 5, 2024 in the Richmond borough of London
Banksy has unveiled a new piece of artwork near Kew Bridge in West London
Employees move a CCTV camera back to its original position after Banksy moved it
The artist’s new piece in London features the goat silhouette with rocks falling down below it
Banksy has unveiled a new piece of artwork near Kew Bridge in West London
The artist’s new piece in London features the goat silhouette with rocks falling down below it
Banksy has unveiled a new piece of artwork near Kew Bridge in West London
A mural depicting a goat, purportedly by the street artist Bansky, is pictured on August 5, 2024 in the Richmond borough of London, England
Many fans at the Other Stage – traditionally billed as the alternative to the flagship Pyramid Stage – thought the inflatable life raft, carrying a number of seated dummies in high-visibility vests, was a prop for their politically charged headline set.
But a representative for Idles said that the boat was created by fellow Bristolian Banksy, and that the band were not aware of what had happened until after they came off stage.
The demonstration was thought to have been a nod to Rishi Sunak’s tough stance on tackling the small boats crisis.
It was described by then-home secretary James Cleverly as ‘trivialising’ small boats crossings and ‘vile’, but the artist responded saying his reaction was a ‘a bit over the top’.
The graffiti artist previously funded a migrant rescue ship, which was impounded in Italy last year after responding to distress calls in the Mediterranean.
In March this year, another Banksy appeared overnight on the side of a building near Finsbury Park.
It showed a splattering of green which has been painted behind a bare tree to look like foliage, with a stencil of a person holding what appears to be a pressure hose next to it.
In 2008 the Mail On Sunday published this photograph taken in Jamaica which is said to show Banksy, who was identified as former public schoolboy Robin Gunningham from Bristol
Banksy was responsible for a small boats stunt at Glastonbury Festival in Somerset in June
In March, the artist created a tree mural near Finsbury Park in North London, which saw a tree cut back with green paint sprayed behind it to give the impression of foliage
The tree mural near Finsbury Park was sabotaged by people who threw white paint at it
The site then attracted legions of Banksy fans to catch a glimpse at it.
But within three days the mural was defaced with white paint. It prompted the local council to erect a metal security fence to protect it from further damage.
The Mail on Sunday previously revealed Banksy to be Robin Gunningham, a middle-class artist who has repeatedly refused to confirm his identity.
His reputation is founded on the popularity of his trademark stencil-style art in public spaces – including on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even on the West Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians.
He has dozens of celebrity collectors including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera, and his work repeatedly sells for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Banksy’s work ‘ Love Is In The Bin’ self-destructed in Sotheby’s, London, in 2018
Banksy’s piece Valentine’s Day Mascara appeared on a house in Margate in February 2023
Banksy’s Sweep It Under the Carpet mural, which appeared in 2006 in Chalk Farm, London
He is also known for his headline-making stunts, such as leaving an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland, California, and hanging a version of the Mona Lisa – but with a smiley face – in the Louvre, Paris.
His artwork Girl With Balloon famously self-destructed in a Sotheby’s London saleroom when it descended into a shredder in 2018.
That piece was then renamed Love Is In The Bin, which in 2021 sold for £18.6 million, a record for Banksy’s work.
She worked as a researcher for Labour MP Austin Mitchell, who died in 2021, and later set up Principle Affairs, a lobby group for charities.
Ms Millward is thought to have met Mr Gunningham in 2003 before they married in Las Vegas in 2006.