A fresh Banksy artwork of pelicans has appeared this morning in London, making it the fifth new work that the elusive street artist has unveiled this week.
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.
