Banksy's billboard cat removed as meaning of his London animals revealed

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/aug/10/meaning-new-banksy-series-revealed-latest-london-artwork

Banksy’s billboard cat removed as meaning of his London animals revealed

Exclusive: secretive artist trying to raise a smile with pelicans, elephants, monkeys, wolf, goat and cat

Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent
Sat 10 Aug 2024 18.33 EDT

A big cat by Banksy appeared briefly, stretching in the morning sun, on a bare advertising hoarding on Edgware Road in Cricklewood, north-west London, on Saturday. A few hours later it had gone, removed by contractors who feared it would be ripped down.

…

For a week now, the streets of the capital have been ­populated by a string of unusual animal ­sightings, courtesy of Banksy, ­including ­pelicans, a goat and a trio of monkeys.

The artist’s vision is ­simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public ­during a period when the news headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.

Banksy’s hope, it is understood, is that the uplifting works cheer ­people with a moment of unexpected ­amusement, as well as to ­gently underline the human capacity for ­creative play, rather than for destruction and negativity.

… more … photos at link…

(Whimsy wins.)

[FalloutShelter]

1. So by all means, trear down the uplifting art.

Second thought.... I bet someone took that art down and rolled it into a bank vault somewhere for "safekeeping".

[cbabe]

2. From the article:

A contractor, who only wanted to give his name as Marc, told PA they were planning to pull the billboard down on Monday and had removed it early in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe”.

He said: “We’ll store that bit [the artwork] in our yard to see if anyone collects it but if not it’ll go in a skip. I’ve been told to keep it careful in case he wants it.”

[FalloutShelter]

3. Yup.

[bif]

4. By all means, put it in a skip.

Whatever that is.

[central scrutinizer]

5. British for Dumpster

[cbabe]

6. Skip is a dumpster. You know someone will claim it. I think

they were actually trying to keep it safe. Putting it in a skip sounds like a joke, It’s worth a bundle so I doubt anyone will destroy it.

[dickthegrouch]

7. Props to an Artist who really understands his power

And a pox on all who are only thinking of the cash value.

[GReedDiamond]

8. I was lucky enough to be right down the street, at a t-shirt art factory, from the Banksy Show when it opened...

...in 2006.

Drove up the street to the location, parked, and walked in, no crowds or tickets, just went in the gallery/industrial space off of Santa Fe Avenue, near downtown L.A., and had my mind blown.

Right away I noticed that Banksy, who I had never heard of up until that moment, was using stencils/spraypainting - or airbrushing - which is what I had been doing since 1976 on tee shirts and paintings.

Banksy figured out how to market the grafitti part of it and turn it into "fine art."

He also relied on dada/surrealist traditions in a Marcel Duchamp sort of way.

The pink elephant appeared to be in good spirits.