It’s been a week since Banksy started painting animal murals all over London. First a mountain goat was seen perched precariously on a wall buttress, followed by a pair of elephants, some monkeys, a wolf, two pelicans, a big cat, and fish. Amid the fanfare and online speculation about their significance, the artist’s support organization, Pest Control Office, essentially said they are meaningless.
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.
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“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.