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BRINGING SMILES TO FACES across the nation during the global pandemic, Banksy's canvases include a prison, his own bathroom and a twist on his most famous piece on the side of a rescue boat... We know you'll want the latest news first, so let's start with Banksy's prison escape, which has set about a hub of proactive campaigning.
1. Create Escape at a former prison, Reading, UK
The artwork, confirmed by Banksy as his own, features an escapee (possibly resembling famous inmate, Oscar Wilde, says bbc.co.uk), escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter. This has offset two wonderful things - a) local people living near the prison have been campaigning for it to be made in to an arts centre, rather than sold off for housing. And b) a new chapter in the ongoing "wall art banter" as we'll call it, between the guys honouring the late, Robbo, who defaced the artwork by tagging 'Team Robbo' underneath it. Contrary to angering Banksy fans, the defacing of Banksy works by the Team Robbo-honouring gang has been going on for so long, that some consider this wall art banter just another part of a (pretty cute) ongoing legacy between the two artistes.
Image: Thames Valley Road Policing Team
2. Aachoo!! in Totterdown, Bristol, UK. Dec ' 20 / Artwork removed Mar '21
Aachoo!! depicts a woman sneezing on a semi-detached house on one of the steepest roads in England. But it didn't hand around for very long, as the owner of said house clearly decided to cash in the massive cheque that Banksy had left on the other side of their living room, with a crane removing it in March of this year.
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3. Hula Hoop Girl with bicycle tyre, Nottingham, UK. Oct '20
Image: BristolPost.co.uk
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4. Girl With A Pink Heart Balloon, in the Mediterranean Sea. Aug '20
Painted on the active M. V. Louise Michel rescue boat, this one actually floods our hearts with love for the folk who set this up (a heck of a lot). Whilst Banksy's Girl With A Pink Heart Balloon, an updated version of one his most famous pieces (said girl is usually with a Red Balloon) undoubtedly raised the PR and the donations for this project, it is the project itself which pulls at the heart strings and proves that people power really does exist.
From their website, which gives it a great overview: "It might seem incredible there is need for a homemade emergency vehicle in one of Europe’s busiest waterways, but there is. In response to the crisis on the Mediterranean, European states instruct their Coastguard not to answer distress calls from ‘non-Europeans’ leaving desperate people to drift helplessly at sea. To make matters worse authorities prevent other boats from providing assistance, arresting crews and impounding boats that do."
Image: BristolPost.co.uk
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5. Rats rats RATS!.... London Underground, July '20
Alas! The cleaners took the bleach to these Banksy rats before anyone had confirmed it was the Street Art God himself who painted them.... oh rats. Literally. And colloquially-speaking. The rats were everywhere, one was even having a casual sneeze of mint green paint before his ass got swiftly obliterated by the cleaners.
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Images: BristolPost.co.uk
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6. Girl With A Pierced Eardrum, Apr '20
We all know the Vermeer painting this is based on... if you don't, go and look it up! Girl with a Pearl Earring which got Banksy-fied to Girl With A Pierced Eardrum is actually an old Banksy mural, but in April 2020, as covid hit its first peak, a surgical mask suddenly appeared across her face. By Banksy? This is not known, but we love the mask adornment update. We like to think of it as a tribute to hospital staff, care workers and key workers across the globe.
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Image: BristolPost.co.uk
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7. "My wife hates it when I work from home." Mar '20
...was Banksy's Instagram title for this piece, his first covid-related work of the pandemic. A fantastic funny nod (if a little grim-looking, even if it is on purpose - yuck!) to the work-from-home culture that swept - and pretty much enforced - across the globe. This was Banksy's first covid piece, overrun with his trademark rats.
Image: Instagram/@Banksy
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