Banksy has offered an explanation for this week’s string of surprise new artworks, as a sixth piece popped up in London.
Over the course of the week, six different animal-based images have popped up across the capital, each one claimed by the enigmatic Bristol-based artist via his Instagram.
It began on Monday (August 5) with a stencilled goat mural perching precariously on a ledge in Richmond, followed on Tuesday by two elephants almost touching trunks outside windows in Chelsea.
Wednesday saw the arrival of three monkeys swinging from a bridge in Shoreditch, while on Thursday a wolf howling at the moon from a satellite dish in Peckham was almost immediately stolen.
On Friday, a fish and chip show in Walthamstow found itself with two pelicans eating fish outside it, and now today, a stretching cat has appeared on a wooden advertising hoarding on Edgware Road.
The black silhouettes have been inspiring discussions all week about their potential political resonance at a time when the country has been subjected to far-right riots, but now the artist has reportedly provided his own explanation for his work.
The Observer report via Banksy’s support organisation Pest Control Office that his intention with the project is to bring cheer to the public mood with uplifting and surprising moments of joy or amusement, with an emphasis on humans’ capacity for creativity rather than destruction.
The report adds that the public can expect more new works in the series “for a few days more”.
It follows on from a more definitely politically-motivated intervention from Banksy at this year’s Glastonbury, when a dummy-filled immigrant boat was launched into the crowd during IDLES’ set on the Other Stage, and then again during Little Simz during her Pyramid performance.
The boat was a visual reference to the current migrant crisis, which has become the focal point of then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy. The stunt was criticised by then-Home Secretary James Cleverly, who called it “vile”.
In response, Banksy said: “The Homeland Security called my Glastonbury boat ‘vile and unacceptable’ which seemed a bit over the top. The real boat I fund, the MV Louise Michael rescued 17 unaccompanied children from the central med on Monday night. As punishment, the Italian authorities have detained it – which seems vile and unacceptable to me.”