THE HEADLINES

ANIMAL HARM? I think we can finally put the Banksy vandalizing London story with animal portraits story to bed. It looks like he’s given up on the series, capping it off with a gorilla helping to facilitate the great escape from London Zoo. His identity may remain a mystery, but ITV recently dipped into its archives and found an old report from 2003 on the graffiti artist that 1) almost reveals his identity and 2) confirms his love (or hate) of animals. In it, Banksy – who is wearing a makeshift disguise of a baseball cap and T-shirt pulled over his face – says in a thick Bristolian drawl, “I’m disguised because you can’t really be a graffiti writer and go public, the two things don’t quite go together.” The story follows Banksy painting a load of live farm animals for an exhibition and the anticipation builds agonizingly as the RSPCA (the British equivalent of the ASPCA) inspector arrives to check if the artist has used animal-friendly paint. Has he or hasn’t he…. Watch to find out

GET A GRIPPA. London’s National Gallery has splashed out more than $2.5 million on a painting by Dutch, Victorian-era artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1833-1912). The artwork, called After the Audience (1879) centers on Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was the son-in law of Emperor Augustus Caesar and the patron of significant Roman buildings including the Pantheon and the Basilica of Neptune. It was painted to catch the eye of industrialist William Armstrong, who was a fan of another work by Alma-Tadema titled An Audience with Agrippa (1875), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876. However, Armstrong’s interest wasn’t piqued, which is his loss given After the Audience is now widely considered to be one of the artist’s masterpieces, “noted for its scale and complexity of composition,” according to The Art Newspaper. It is the first work by Alma-Tadema to be acquired by the National Gallery, and its inclusion in the museum’s collection is part of its ongoing 200th anniversary celebrations.

THE DIGEST

Swiss artist Christoph Büchel has turned a Venetian Palace into a pawnshop with his “compelling, obsessive, and sometimes hilarious” installation. Check it out. [The New York Times]

Toddler’s nightmares are made of this; someone auctioning off your teddy bear collection. The owner of Teddy Bears of Whitney, a shop in the UK city of Oxford, has one very special bear – Aloysius from the 1980s TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. It’s expected to fetch around $40,000 at auction. [BBC]

To celebrate its 60th birthday – and the fact it’s now Europe’s longest-standing, independent foundation – the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght in southern France has put on a show of works by Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard. [The Art Newspaper]

More than 150 prominent cultural figures across Europe have signed an open letter slamming Slovakia’s nationalistic government for sacking the directors of the country’s National Theater and National Gallery (SNG). [e-flux]

THE KICKER

TICKET TO PARADISE. Another auction story for you. This time it’s not about a teddy bear but a silver fox, George Clooney. The actor is selling a few candlelit hours of his time in New York to the highest bidder for charity. The auction, managed by Charitybuzz and titled “A Good Evening with George Clooney” closes on August 20 and is witnessing a flurry of bidding. The starting bid was $10,000 and the price has risen to $31,000 at the time of writing. The charity hopes someone will be willing to fork out at least $60,000 for a dinner date with George… well, a dinner date with George and two dozen other guests. Make sure you read the small print before placing a bid. The proceeds will go towards causes including Waging Justice for Women. [The News]

The black stencil image on the security shutters at the zoo is the ninth animal-themed work claimed by the popular street artist in nine days (like prior murals, a picture of the gorilla was shared with his 13 million Instagram followers).

The menagerie of animals at the London Zoo follows a mountain goat perched precariously on a wall buttress, followed by a pair of elephants, three swinging monkeys, a howling wolf, two pelicans eating fish, a big cat mid-stretch, a school of fish, and a rhino mounting a car at various points around the city. The locations have included the sides of buildings, a fish and chip shop sign, a police box, and the bridge of a subway station.

Two of the nine artworks are no longer viewable by the public. Photographs show the image of the howling wolf, painted on a satellite dish, was allegedly stolen by three hooded men in broad daylight on August 8. The big cat mid-stretch spray-painted on a bare sheet of plywood for billboards was removed by a contractor to reduce the likelihood of theft.

Banksy’s murals and artworks have been posted on Instagram without captions, titles or other information, prompting online speculation about their significance. On August 10, The Guardian reported that the artist’s support organization, Pest Control Office, found all the theorizing about the meaning of each new image “way too involved” and that the artist’s simple vision was to cheer up the public during a bleak period.

“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,” wrote Vanessa Thorpe, the Guardian‘s arts and media correspondent.

THE HEADLINES

PAIN IN THE ASSET. Italy’s public debt is mounting. How to tackle it? Auctioning off a 16th-century castle that once belonged to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, one of 33 historic Italian sites up for sale. The palatial complex near Naples is managed by the defense ministry and will be sold in November. The move, however, has enraged Italy’s FAI, the equivalent of the National Trust (if you’re British) or the Royal Oak Foundation (if you’re American). “We should protect our cultural assets, they are vital,” Dante Specchia, from the FAI, told The Telegraph. “Depriving the public of a jewel like the Charles V castle should not be debatable.” Called Capua Castle, it was built between 1522 and 1543 and was considered strategically significant for Charles V, who lorded over an empire stretching across Italy, Spain, Austria, and Germany. However, the castle is now a shadow of its former glory. It was turned into a prison in the 19th century and more recently used for making and storing explosives. Italy’s defense ministry manages several other grand properties including palaces and villas in Florence, Padua, and Taranto, as well as barracks, warehouses, and lighthouses. They are all going under the hammer, and boast a combined market value of around $250 million.

#GENZTHRILLS. London will soon have a new private museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art and  it’s specifically aimed at 18- to 35-year-olds looking for Instagram opportunities. Moco Museum London is located at Marble Arch in central London and boasts 25,000 sq. ft of floor space, three floors, and works by Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring. Moco’s cofounders, Dutch former gallerists Kim Logchies-Prins and Lionel Logchies, want to “share their knowledge.” They’ve already opened Moco branches in Amsterdam and Barcelona, which have seen a combined five million people walk through the doors over the last few years. They’re hoping the London museum will welcome at least 300,000 visitors in its first year after it officially opens September 10.

THE DIGEST

Plans to rescue the Devizes Assize Court Building and turn it into the Wiltshire Museum will be submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2025. If successful, the space will open in 2030 and include two large event spaces, galleries, and a café. [BBC]

Another story about a decrepit building in England potentially morphing into something for the art world, this time a 1,000-year-old church in Norwich might be turned into an auction house for art, antiques, and collectibles. [Norwich Evening News]

Should artists be worried about AI replacing them, or is it just an exciting new tool? An artist tries to answer this question in the Guardian. It’s a new take on an old(ish) question. [Guardian]

A ninth Banksy animal mural has been seen in London, this time showing gorilla facilitating the escape of animals at the entrance to the London Zoo. The eighth artwork in the series, a rhino in southeast London, was confirmed on Banksy’s Instagram on Monday before being defaced by a hooded man. [Sky News].

THE KICKER

TURNING HEADS. A collection of bank notes minted by the Bank of England and emblazoned with King Charles’ head to celebrate his accession to the throne have raised more than $1 million at four separate auctions. The notes went into circulation only this past June, but they are among the first notes released and subsequently have serial numbers that are like catnip to collectors. The proceeds from the auctions, organized by Spink & Son, are going to 10 different charities, with each in line to receive around $100,000. Some £50 notes sold for £26,000 and broke the record for the highest lot sold in a Bank of England auction, while a single £10 note sold for £17,000, with the serial number HBO1 00002. Collectors of such things look for serial numbers as close to five zeros as they can find, with 0001 regarded as the jewel in the crown. [Sky News]

Given the lack of any philosophical message behind the artworks, you’d be forgiven for thinking the conjecture might stop. However, the thousands of comments (5,645 and counting) on Banksy’s Instagram page interrogating his most recent animal work – a rhino amorously mounting a car in southeast London that was found on Monday – suggest otherwise.

“Nature is about to fck the industry like the industries fckd nature,” one person wrote. “This has to be a metaphor for technology replacing nature – maybe a commentary on AI and job security,” posted another.

The comments go on and on.

Two of the eight works have already been removed. Three hooded men stole the wolf, which was painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, on Thursday, while a contractor took down the big cat painted on a bare billboard on Saturday to stop it being stolen.

The fish – a school of piranhas painted on a police box in the City of London on Sunday – was described by “criminal damage” by the authorities. It was later cordoned off by workers in hi-vis jackets.

THE HEADLINES

POINTLESS PAINTINGS. A seventh animal painting by Banksy emerged in London over the weekend. This time the elusive street artist made a police box in the City of London look like a fish tank. Given the police’s reaction, though, it looks like the authorities are running out of patience. “We are aware of criminal damage to a City of London Police box in Ludgate Hill,” detective chief inspector Andy Spooner reportedly said. “We are liaising with the City of London Corporation who own the police box.” The fish follow a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, two pelicans, and a wolf, all sprayed in various London locations. What do the simple, black, stenciled silhouettes that could have been painted by a toddler mean? People have been speculating on social media but Banksy’s support organization, Pest Control Office, appeared to pour cold water on any philosophical intent. It told the Guardian that “recent theorizing about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved.”

MISHANDLING MUSEUM. An internal review at the British Museum has found that the institution broke the law after thousands of ancient artifacts went walkabouts from its collection. Last December, the museum confirmed that 2,000 objects went missing and admitted that many might be “unrecoverable” after being “sold for scrap” or defaced. The internal audit revealed that the museum did not house the treasures in line with UK law. The Times reports that the Public Records Act dictates that museums and libraries are required to “meet basic standards of preservation, access, and professional care,” while objects need to be in “the care of suitably qualified staff.” Any organizations guilty of neglecting these standards might see their treasures taken elsewhere by authorities or handed over to the National Archives. A British Museum source, however, said that there “was no suggestion” as of yet that the museum would suffer such a fate. It was revealed that 1,500 or so items from the British Museum were feared to have been stolen last year, while around 350 had parts removed including gold and gems.

THE DIGEST

A former bank in Sheffield is set to be transformed into an arts and culture venue called S1 Artspace. The Grade II listed Yorkshire Bank Chambers building in the city center was purchased as part of the former UK government’s Levelling Up Fund, created to improve infrastructure across the country. S1 Artspace’s team described the move as a “monumental step.” [BBC]

Anyone interested in stepping foot in the art world should read “recovering” art dealer Orlando Whitfield’s memoir, All That Glitters. It details Whitfield’s close relationship with disgraced art peddler Inigo Philbrick – and the former’s exhilarating downfall. [The New Statesman]

Hong Kong is known for a few things, among them it’s adversarial relationship with China. Street art is perhaps not one of the country’s internationally known traits, but the FT thinks it should be. [FT]

A museum in the English county of Norfolk housing a collection of Nazi artifacts was broken into last Friday, and a volunteer who works there has pointed the finger at “far right” activists. A baton belonging to German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, two SS knives, helmets, and a baby gas mask were pilfered from the Desert Rats Museum. The police are investigating. [ITV]

THE KICKER

PAW-CASSO. Another major art story for you. A trainee therapy dog called Pickles who helps adults and children has surprised everyone with his artistic skills. He creates artworks by licking paté off clear plastic bags which contain paint, a canvas, and stencils. Fifteen of his paintings have been sold to date, with the funds reinvested into the community projects Pickles works for, Plant Pots and Wellies, in Essex. He’s getting his big break on September 3, when some of his work will go on display at the Harlow Civic Center. His owner, Rowen Saunders, said, “I was trying to work out a way for him to do painting with the children but every time I gave him a paintbrush, he’d crunch it into three bits and say ‘thank you very much.’ Our local MP Chris Vince has bought one of the paintings and he’s going to put in up in the Houses of Parliament, which we’re really, really proud of.” As it stands, Pickles’ work sells for about $10 a piece. [BBC]

Conjecture has been rife on social media about the meaning behind the street artist’s recent series of animals plastered around London over the last week. They include a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf, two pelicans, a big cat, and now the fish.

The Guardian wrote yesterday, however, that Banksy’s support organization, Pest Control Office, said that “recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved.” The paper said it “understands” that “the artist’s vision is simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public during a period when the new headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.”

PA Media reported that the fish mural, which makes the police box look like a fish tank, was picked up on CCTV cameras before being examined by police officers, who are awaiting orders about what to do with it. “We are aware of criminal damage to a City of London Police box in Ludgate Hill,” detective chief inspector Andy Spooner reportedly said. “We are liaising with the City of London Corporation who own the police box.”

So far, two of Banksy’s seven murals have been removed just hours after being spotted. A wolf painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, was stolen by a trio of hooded men in broad daylight on Thursday, while a big cat sprayed on a bare billboard in northeast London was removed by a contractor to prevent it being stolen.

The contractor, who gave his name as Marc to PA Media, said the billboard was earmarked to be torn down on August 12 so he was removing it in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe.”

“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,” he reportedly said.

The cat is the anonymous British street artist’s sixth animal mural to spring up in London over the last few days. It follows a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf, and two pelicans which have been sprayed in various locations across the capital.

The wolf, painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, was pilfered  by a hooded trio in broad daylight on Thursday.

Banksy has posted each animal painting on his Instagram, confirming that they are genuine. Their significance has sparked a flurry of speculation on social media.

The artist’s agent told the BBC that there was “no comment on the theme” of the series, adding that there “may or may not” be more murals to follow.  

The Observer, however, says it has learned from a Banksy spokesperson that a seventh painting “may shortly materialize in a surprising location … London residents should then keep their eyes peeled.”

The Guardian reports that it “understands” that “the artist’s vision is simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public during a period when the new headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.”

The paper adds that “recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved, Banksy’s support organisation, Pest Control Office, has indicated.”

The newest mural from the popular street artist shows two pelicans eating fish above the yellow sign of a fish and chips takeaway shop in the northeastern London neighborhood of Walthamstow. Banksy’s Instagram account also posted an image of the black stenciled mural early on August 9.

All of the new Banksy artworks depict animals. The first was a black mountain goat perched on a wall support structure that faces a surveillance camera near London’s Kew Bridge. The second shows two elephants facing each other, and was painted on two blocked-out windows in Chelsea. The third was of three monkeys swinging on the bridge of a subway station in the eastern part of the city.

The fourth artwork was a howling wolf on a white satellite dish in the Peckham borough of South London. It was allegedly stolen less than two hours after an image had been posted online to the artist’s Instagram account by two people with a ladder, according to BBC News. The Metropolitan Police said it had been called, but no arrests had been made.

Photos of all five of the black stenciled images were confirmed through posts on Banksy’s Instagram account.

The artist’s posts about the five artworks have not included captions or titles, prompting speculation online about what the artist is intending to convey.

In addition to immediate attention from fans, the remaining new works in London will likely require additional protection. A Banksy painting in the northern part of the city depicting a life-size woman holding a pressure washer was defaced with white paint shortly after its debut in March. The owner of the residential building later installed plastic sheets and wooden boards.

Two suspects were also taken into custody by London police last December in connection with the rapid theft of a Banksy artwork of a stop sign decorated with what appears to be a trio of military drones.

The work was installed on a street sign in the South London neighborhood of Peckham. It was stolen by two individuals with bolt cutters just one hour after the street artist posted an image of the work to Instagram on December 22.

THE HEADLINES

BANKSY HOWLER. British street artist Banksy’s efforts to turn London into a zoo have been hampered by a trio of crooks who stole a black wolf he graffitied onto a satellite dish. The hooded men were filmed removing the dish in Peckham, south London, in broad day light before nonchalantly walking off down the street with it. A passerby called Tom Kellow filmed the robbery during his lunchbreak. “They had a ladder,” he told the BBC. “There was one guy in the roof and the other two were watching the ladder. They saw me filming and it got a bit tetchy. One gave me a kick in the side and another tried to throw my phone on the roof. Luckily it hit a tree and came back down again.” Banksy has painted several new murals across London over the last few days, sparking a giddy selfie frenzy as people rush to see the black stenciled artworks. They include a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, some monkeys… and a lost, lone wolf. Where will Banksy’s next act of vandalism be? Oh, hold on, a news story has just popped into my feed. A pair of pelicans has been spotted above a fish and chip shop in Walthamstow, northeast London

ACTO-JOURNALISM. A journalist and an activist have been arrested and charged with hate crimes for spraying red paint on the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director and board members. Police reportedly arrested Taylor Pelton, who lives in Queens, last week and charged her with several counts of criminal mischief in the third degree. Samuel Seligson, a resident of Brooklyn, was apprehended on August 6 and faces a double count of criminal mischief. Both cases are being charged as hate crimes. The Brooklyn Museum’s director, Anne Pasternak, is Jewish. A banner was hung outside her house on June 11 emblazoned with the words “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White Supremacist Zionist” and “Funds Genocide.” An inverted red triangle was also daubed on her house, a symbol allegedly used by Hamas to identify buildings targeted by Israeli strikes. “Mr Seligson is being charged for alleged behavior that is protected by the First Amendment and consistent with his job as a credentialed member of the press,” Seligson’s lawyer, Leena Widdi said. “Nothing in the complaint against Mr Seligson alleges anything more than behavior consistent with his role as a journalist.” 

THE DIGEST

As scores of far-right sympathizers loiter outside hotels housing asylum seekers throughout the UK and kick policemen off motorbikes, sand artist Fred Brown has drawn some lines in the sand. However, people aren’t too sure which side of the isle Brown stands… is he a covert skinhead or a pacifist? The work featuring a Union Jack and the words “Love Laugh Live” is polarizing the public. [BBC]

Want to support journalism in Ukraine? Now you can, by buying merch from the Kyiv Independent’s new online store featuring works by Ukrainian artists. The paper says its mission is “delivering locally sourced, independent journalism from Ukraine to the world.” [Kyiv Independent]

The tiny Scottish fishing village of Pittenween has been transformed into a living art gallery this week for the annual Pittenween Arts Festival after its residents opened up their homes to exhibit the work of 140 artists from across Scotland, the highest number since the pandemic. [STV News]

Ukraine has called for the UN to intervene after Tauric Chersonese, an ancient Crimean heritage site, was transformed into a “historical and archaeological park” by Russia. The Kremlin annexed Crimea in 2015. [The Art Newspaper].

THE KICKER

PRISON BAIT. A former prison in Scotland which has been turned into a museum is filming visitors to see how people react to troubling aspects of human history. In a bid to prove it’s not just a sick joke, the data is being gathered and analyzed by researchers at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University (RGU). Punters entering Peterhead Prison Museum get the chance to experience what life was like behind bars of the notorious prison, and get insight into brutal inmate-on-inmate attacks, a punishment station where officers used a whip, and dirty protests. The project, called “Talking about Prisons,” is headed up by Rachel Ironside from the RGU. “What we’re looking at is how visitors interact with some of the museum spaces, in particular those spaces that deal with a more difficult type of heritage,” she told BBC Scotland. “This project is looking at those in-the-moment interactions, that’s what we’re really interested in. Where do they look, what do they say.” [BBC]

Then part of the work quickly disappeared. According to photographs of the site, the dish has been removed and was allegedly stolen.

This new series of Banksy works, each of which portrays on animals, seems have begun on Monday, when a stenciled goat was found precariously balanced on the buttress of a wall new Kew Bridge in Richmond, a town in southwest London. Rocks tumble from the goat’s feet in full view of a surveillance camera on the wall pointing directly at the long horned bovine, which looks down onto the street. On Tuesday, two elephants reached their outstretched trucks toward one another from appears to be boarded up windows in Chelsea. And yesterday, three monkeys were spotted, in mid-swing, on Brick Lane. 

In each case, the enigmatic street artist has claimed the work as his own via Instagram. There has not yet been any explanation for his recent burst of productivity or the meaning behind the Ark’s worth of animals.

Some have speculated on what these works may signify anyway. Three of the four pictures on Banksy’s Instagram account show humans blissfully unaware of the stenciled animals near them. That led one user to posit, “There’s definitely a sense that including the people in all these pics is giving off a sense of ignorance to the wild around them.”

Some take an overtly pessimistic view of Banksy’s new work. “Humanity is not going to last… animals will be taking over 🖤,” one user posted to Instagram. Others see a narrative building in the series: “One animal, isolated and helpless; Two animals, watching out for each other; Three animals, overcoming difficulties together?”

Theories range from support of the Palestinian struggle—“a lot of people asking him to paint about Palestine, the gap in the legs is the shape of what’s left isn’t it,” one user said of the goat mural—to the need to reconnect to nature and the importance of family and community. The only thing for certain is that the public wants more. “Same time again tomorrow? ⏳,” one user posted.