One of the nine murals created by the elusive street artist Banksy in London over the past nine days has been defaced by a vandal.
The mural, depicting a rhino seemingly mounting a dilapidated silver car — a Nissan Micra — with a traffic cone on its bonnet, appeared in south-east London on Monday (August 12). It was confirmed as a genuine Banksy on the artist’s Instagram account.
Who vandalised it?
The day the mural showed up, in the evening, a man wearing a balaclava was filmed spray-painting a tag on the mural. As per BBC, bystanders tried to dissuade him by shouting, “Don’t do that.”
After being defaced, the mural now has a dollar sign and a “V”. As per the BBC, Banksy is not popular among members of the street art community who resent his mainstream success and his reliance on stencils rather than freehand painting.
This defacement may be due to the ongoing tensions.
Mural ruined
By Tuesday morning, the car featured in the mural had also been removed, though it was confirmed that the local council was not responsible for its removal.
A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, where the mural was located, expressed disappointment over the incident, stating, “It’s a real shame that a mindless vandal has defaced the mural, which has already drawn visitors and brought so much joy to many.”
The council is reportedly now deliberating on “what would be reasonably possible for the future of the artwork and will be closely monitoring it”.
In a conversation with BBC, a witness said that a “random youth” had “brazenly walked up and defaced the installation with a graffiti tag”.
“The whole incident took place within less than 30 seconds before he disappeared with another male accomplice further down the road.”
Banksy’s new work
Earlier works in Banksy’s series include a goat perched on a wall, and silhouettes of elephants, monkeys, a wolf, pelicans, and a cat.
On Sunday (August 11), Banksy acknowledged that he had added a school of piranhas to a police sentry box in the City of London. To save this artwork, the City of London Corporation swiftly moved the artwork to a secure location and announced that a permanent home for the piece would be decided soon.
(With inputs from agencies)
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