A gorilla on the grounds of London Zoo lifts a curtain and releases other animals, an ibex balances on a ledge and almost threatens to fall, a rhinoceros climbs onto a wrecked car, a wolf on a satellite dish howls into the sky, monkeys swing across a drawbridge, two elephants stretch their trunks towards each other – there was a lot going on in London this week. The famous and mysterious street artist Banksy has placed a series of nine animal graffiti in total in various places in the city and has committed to spraying them every day at midday. It is therefore clear that these are genuine Banksy works, which are now fetching top prices in the tens of millions. And are therefore also highly sought after by unauthorized persons: masked thieves climbed onto the garage roof in the Peckham district and dismantled the satellite dish with the howling wolf. They managed to escape.
The deeper meaning of the current animal series is just as mysterious as the artist himself, whose identity is still only a mystery. Because Banksy’s messages are in most cases explicitly political – against war, violence against women, Brexit – a current message is also interpreted into rhinos and the like. The staggering ibex in particular gives rise to this. It is said to be an allusion to the devastating situation in Palestine. Others, however, claim that Banksy wanted to symbolize the reconquest of the city by animals with his action. The newspaper “The Observer”, on the other hand, described the animals as a feel-good action for a country that is severely crisis-ridden.
But it may not be meant to be quite so harmless. Banksy transformed a glassed-in London police checkpoint into an aquarium. Inside: piranhas. Banksy remains mysterious, enigmatic, subversive, and biting. Exactly how art should be.
