Banksy’s Animal-Themed Street Art Spree Continues With Pelicans

Banksy’s streak of new works continues in London, with his fifth piece of the week. The latest new Banksy is a stenciled painting of two pelicans perched atop the sign of Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow, Northeast London. One is tossing back a fish, the other seemingly snapping up a fish from the yellow sign.

It’s been a busy week for the anonymous British street artist, who can sometimes go months between pieces. He kicked things off Monday with a pair of elephants reaching for one another from two bricked over windows.

On Tuesday, there was a mountain goat seemingly perched on a small ledge on the side of a house. (Playing with architectural elements is a signature of the artist’s work.)

Wednesday’s piece was a trio of monkeys hanging off an overpass, while Banksy added a wolf howling at the moon, painted on a satellite dish, on Thursday.

A third Banksy artwork has appeared in South London, showing three monkeys swinging along a railway overpass. Photo: the FA via Getty Images.

A group of men armed with a ladder allegedly stole the latter work off the building just hours after its creation. The market for Banksy creations has proven catnip for thieves in the past—although there can be legal consequences such as hefty fines and potential jail time for stealing his art.

With the latest incident, “there have been no arrests. Enquiries continue,” Metropolitan Police told the Standard.

People remove a new artwork by Banksy, depicting a howling wolf painted on a satellite dish that was placed on a shop roof in Peckham, south London. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/ PA Images via Getty Images.

Though all of the new artworks have featured animals, it has been difficult to identify an overarching theme. Often satirical, Banksy typically engages with political issues such as migration in his work. He has claimed authorship of all of the paintings on his Instagram account, but has not offered any commentary that might provide insight to their meaning.

A local called the latest addition to Banksy’s oeuvre, “so fun and wholesome,” telling the BBC that Bonners Fish Bar is “a bit of an icon of the local area, so I’m sure that’s why it’s been chosen. It’s been here a long time and it’s well loved.”

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