Map shows where to find Banksy’s best graffiti after spate of new London artwork

Banksy is an anonymous British graffiti artist who brings political street art to walls, bridges, and buildings worldwide.

Since rising to fame in the late 1990s, the artist’s witty, satirical murals and daring pranks have earned him millions of pounds.

In the past week, the elusive street artist has unveiled a plethora of new artworks across the capitol – all with an animal theme.

So, where can you see his work? Metro has outlined it for you below.

Charlton

On Westmoor Street in Charlton, south London, a painting of a rhino appearing to mount a car – which was moved after the artwork was claimed as Banksys – appeared this week.

Banksy confirmed the art was his on his Instagram page.

London Zoo

One of Banksy’s newest pieces shows a gorilla at London Zoo, painted as if it’s lifting a shutter to free animals, including birds and a seal, from captivity.

It’s on the side of one of the Zoo’s buildings, near Regents Park.

Kew Bridge, Richmond

On Kew Road in Richmond, the artwork shows a mountain goat precariously balancing on a pillar as rocks fall below it.

But just two hours after Banksy unveiled the piece on his official Instagram page, an employee has been spotted and appears to move the CCTV camera back to its original position after it was positioned facing the falling rocks.

If you’re hoping to grab a photo, it’s located at TW9 3JY.

Chelsea

In yet another animal-themed artwork, Banksy shared a photo of two dark elephant silhouettes with their trunks stretched out towards each other on Instagram.

You can find it at SW10 0LB.

Brick Lane

Banksy’s animal themed art kept going last week, with the addition of three mischievous monkeys.

If you find yourself in east London looking for a famous bagel, maybe swing by to see a famous piece of art as well. Find it at E1 6SA.

Old Bailey

One of his latest renditions was art showing piranhas swimming outside of the Old Bailey Criminal Court, in an old City of London Police box.

You can see the fish for yourself at EC4M 7EH.

Walthamstow

Heading back to north east London, pelicans eating a massive fish on the side of a chip shop appeared last week.

Spot it at Bonner’s Fish Bar, E17 7EB.

Finsbury Park

The Finsbury Park tree mural caught attention when it was put up shortly after St Patrick’s Day in 2024.

You can find it on Hornsey Road, N19 4HT.

Other London Banksy artworks

There are two Banksy pieces on the side of defunct nightclub Cargo in Shoreditch, and a 2008 cartoon parodying the royal family is still intact on Church Street in Stoke Newington.

A very faint outline of a 2008 piece of a girl and a cash machine can just about be made out on Rosebury Avenue in Clerkenwell, but much of it has faded.

A mural in Mayfair of a woman falling from a building holding onto a shopping trolley is one of London’s best-preserved Banksy’s. You can see it on Bruton Street.

However, the easiest way to see Banksy’s art in London is at the Art of Banksy, an unauthorised exhibition of his work on Charing Cross Road.

Where can you see Banksy’s art in the rest of the UK?

Banksy’s hometown of Bristol is packed with murals by the secretive artist.

One of his most famous works, the Grim Reaper, was originally painted on the side of the Thekla, a nightclub inside a boat docked in Bristol harbour.

However, in 2014 the piece was removed to protect it from damage. It’s now on display in Bristol’s M Shed museum.

You can also find the artwork Well Hung Lover on the side of a sexual health clinic on Frogmore Street, and The Girl with the Pierced Eardrum, a parody of the Johannes Vermeer painting, is on Hanover Place.

His art has also popped up elsewhere in the UK, including Hull, Nottingham, and Cheltenham.

Why has so much of Banksy’s art been destroyed?

The rocketing price of Banksy’s work means that many of his pieces vanish without warning as building owners try to make a profit.

An entire section of a shop wall in Lowestoft that displayed an original Banksy was removed in 2021 and taken to a secret location.

In December 2023, a Banksy artwork in Peckham of three drones on a traffic stop sign was stolen less than an hour after it was put up.

A man with bolt cutters tore the piece down and another man on a Lime rental bike rode away with it.

One gallery owner told the BBC that the sign could be worth up to £500,000.

In other instances, though, Banksy’s work has been accidentally destroyed.

Last year, builders unknowingly demolished a Banksy mural on the side of a derelict farmhouse in Kent.

‘It made me feel sick realising it was a Banksy – we were gutted. We started demolishing it yesterday,’ one of the contractors involved said.

‘The landowner watched us do it and didn’t know either.’

Why did Banksy destroy his own art?

In 2018, a Banksy painting called Girl With Balloon was sold for more than £1 million at auction house Sotheby’s – and was shredded just moments later.

The auctioneers were unaware that Banksy had installed a shredding mechanism into the painting’s frame.

Following the incident Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s senior director, said: ‘It appears we just got Banksy-ed.’

The original buyer still purchased the artwork at the full original price, but the painting was renamed from Girl With Balloon to Love is in the Bin.

Then, in 2021, the painting was sold again – this time setting the record for the most expensive painting to be sold at auction at £18.6 million.

How much is Banksy’s art worth?

Banksy doesn’t sell his own artwork. However, pieces of his work owned by other people have fetched tens of millions at auction.

He gave the artwork Game Changer to Southampton Hospital in 2020 as a thank you to NHS workers. The painting was later sold for £16.8 million, with the money going towards NHS causes.

A 2005 painting called Sunflowers From Petrol Station, which parodied Van Gogh’s famous sunflower paintings, fetched £10.7 million in 2021 when it was sold by fashion designer Sir Paul Smith.

Who is Banksy?

The mystery surrounding Banksy has, understandably, made people eager to find out his true identity.

Though nothing’s ever been verified, there have been a few rumours, clues, and hints as to who they actually are.

Of course, it’s thought that Banksy wants to keep their identity a secret, given that graffiti is a crime – but myths about their real name are common, often linking back to the beginning of their career, as well as those who have publicly ‘named’ them.

Banksy began their artistic journey as one of Bristol’s DryBreadZ Crew. They were influenced by others on the Bristol Underground Scene – including 3D, better known as Robert Del Naja, one of the members of the band Massive Attack.

Rumours that Banksy is Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja have persisted. The performer identified himself as a personal friend of Banksy, and in June 2017, rapper Goldie referred to Banksy as ‘Rob’ when conversing about art in a podcast interview with Scroobius Pip.

Interestingly, the timing of Banksy’s past works across the world is in tandem with the touring schedule of Massive Attack.

However, Goldie may have been referring to Robin Gunningham, who was said to be Banksy by some former schoolmates from Bristol and associates in a 2008 Mail on Sunday investigation.

The suggestion that Robin Gunningham was Banksy was supported by the study of locations of Banksy’s art, which correlated with the known movements of Gunningham.

In an interview with a Bristol community magazine, Boundless, Banksy was asked about the Robert De Naja rumours. When asked if he would confirm the claim that he was indeed Robert, he said simply: ‘No, because I’m not.’

Speculation that Banksy is a group or collective of graffiti artists is fairly common, too, and in 2014 an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Dodge this borough if you want to avoid the worst traffic in London

MORE : Map reveals European holiday destinations with ‘extreme’ risk for heat death

MORE : Street cleaner denied £3,000 dream trip wins holiday in ‘extremely specific’ competition

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.