Banksy's billboard cat removed as meaning of his London animals revealed [View all]

[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.)