Banksy's new work on the theme of coronavirus was erased from the train walls in the London Underground. This was announced by Transport for London.
At the same time, company representatives noted that graffiti contained the correct message, and if desired, Banksy can take advantage of the right to place such work in another, more suitable place for this.
“We are sympathetic to the desire to encourage people to use the masks that most of our passengers wear. In this case, the artist’s work was recently removed due to the rigor of our approach to the fight against graffiti. We want to give Banksy the opportunity to create a new version of his message for our passengers in a more suitable place for this, ”the media report Transport for London.
The British Transport Police responded to the incident. “Banksy’s firmness of intent to show the importance of wearing masks in public transport reflects our own position. For this reason, hundreds of our officers throughout the capital urge passengers to wear masks every day. Despite this, please do not forget that spoiling subway cars or the railroad or other property at the station is a crime, ”a spokesman said.
The video, which captures the process of working on graffiti, is published on Banksy's Instagram page. The artist descends into the subway under the guise of a subway worker in a protective suit and an orange uniform vest. Some passengers watched Banksy's work - he asked one of them with a gesture not to approach. The artist again managed to hide his face thanks to a respirator and glasses.
Several images of rats appeared in the subway car. Animals sneeze, use masks as parachutes, and one of the drawn rodents “writes” a tag by the sanitizer - an artist’s autograph.
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. . If you don't mask - you don't get.
Publication from Banksy (@banksy) Jul 14, 2020 at 6:30 PDT
The work also contains a modified quote from the popular Tubthumping song by Chumbawamba: “I get lockdown, but I get up again” (I am quarantined, but I get back on my feet. - RT ). The post itself is signed with the phrase "If you don’t have a mask, you will be left with nothing."
Banksy received many compliments from netizens, but the place where the work appeared and its performance was considered controversial even by fans of the artist.
“I always liked Banksy, but in my quick opinion, he went too far. I absolutely hate graffiti in the form of inscriptions, but I still can’t read this. In this case, he apparently ruined a new car. I like a lot of his works, but not this one, ”they write in the comments on the video in the account with the artist’s works.
As for the appearance of the tag, some fans of the artist noted that according to the plot of the graffiti it was made by a "rat hanging on its tail with a bottle of sanitizer for hands" and advised critics to be more lenient.
The consequences of such a step for the transport company did not go unnoticed.
“This is vandalism. The London Underground will have to remove this train from the line and use specialized equipment to clean the surfaces of graffiti and return them to their original appearance. All this will require money, which the organization is now desperately lacking, ”said an Instagram user.
“An act of vandalism that no one asked for. Art does not need to be imposed. There are people who have no alternative to daily trips in public transport, and not everyone wants to contemplate a work of art inspired by the rat-mask-coronavirus theme daily, ”said another user under Banksy’s video. At the time of writing, his commentary has collected over 350 likes.
Banksy on self-isolation
The rats in the London Underground are not Banksy's first project, reflecting the epidemiological situation in the world.
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. . My wife hates it when I work from home.
Publication from Banksy (@banksy) Apr 15, 2020 at 10:45 PDT
In April, the artist painted the walls of his own toilet with rats. Photos were posted on Banksy's Instagram page. They feature a whole art object depicting a pogrom that rodents staged indoors. According to the author’s idea, the rats unwound the toilet paper and stained the walls with toothpaste. One of them marks the days spent in isolation on the wall, while others try to drop the mirror.
“My wife hates it when I work from home,” the artist wrote under the publication.
Some users of the social network wrote that they were not surprised by the reaction of the spouse. Others expressed a desire to decorate the interior of their home in a similar way.
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. . Game changer
Publication by Banksy (@banksy) May 6, 2020 at 9:50 PDT
Another coronavirus pandemic pandemic figure appeared on the net in early May. On it, Banksy depicted a child playing with a nurse figure in a medical mask and a superhero cloak. Comic toy heroes - Batman and Spider-Man - the boy threw into the bin.