Banksy's 'London Zoo': Everything you need to know...
As Banksy confirms the finale of his instantly iconic ‘London Zoo’ series, take a look back at how the reveal of each work unfolded, the locations for each, and which are still available to view and which have since been removed.
Monday 5th August
Image courtesy of PA Media
The series started in Richmond, South-West London, on Monday 5th August with Banksy posting an image on Instagram of his first mural, a goat stuck on the side of a wall, all of which is being filmed by a nearby CCTV camera.
Tuesday 6th August
Image Courtesy of Banksy
The next day, Banksy again revealed on Instagram his latest work, this time in Chelsea: a pair of elephants hanging out of some of London’s famous blank windows. At this point, the media began to speculate about a potential new series of works, all of which involve endangered species.
Wednesday 7th August
Image Courtesy of PA Media
The third artwork in the series is located in Brick Lane, one of the most visited locations by tourists in London. This time, the work features three hanging monkeys, a motif used in Banksy’s work before to mock politicians and climate protesters, but now being used in a more light-hearted way.
James Peak, a Banksy specialist working at the BBC, said on the seemingly randomness of the locations of the works: "Where's he going to pop up next? Nobody knows. It's quite exciting if you're a Banksy fan, and a brilliant thing for London in August."
Thursday 8th August
Image courtesy of Banksy
The fourth installment of the series appeared in Rye Lane, Peckham, and features a howling wolf sprayed onto a large satellite dish. Within hours of the work being authenticated by the artist on Instagram, a group of three men in balaclavas removed the artwork in broad daylight.
Image courtesy of PA Media
A witness reported, "They had a ladder. There was one guy on the roof, and the other two were watching the ladder.
At present, the whereabouts of this work are still unknown.
Friday 9th August
Image courtesy of Matthew Baker
The fifth mural of the week was placed on Pretoria Avenue, Walthamstow, at Bonner’s Fish Bar. This installation featured pelicans comically eating the fish from the fish bar signage. Walthamstow locals spoke of the significance of the location: "It's a bit of an icon of the local area, so I'm sure that's why it's been chosen. It's been here a long time, and it's well-loved."
Saturday 10th August
Image courtesy of PA Media
The sixth mural, placed on Edgware Road in Cricklewood, turned out to be the most temporary of his series, with the work being removed just hours after its authentication on Instagram. Crowds gathered from across London to see the piece before men, who said they were contractors, arrived. The billboard had been due to be taken down on Monday before the artwork appeared.
The contractors said, "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.”
Crowds booed as the work was removed, with one resident saying: "This is Cricklewood, this is our Banksy. You can't even enjoy it for the whole day before someone wants to take it down.”
The work's current whereabouts are still unknown.
Sunday 11th August
Image courtesy of Banksy
The seventh installment, located in The Old Bailey near St Paul's Cathedral, has been considered the most ‘Banksy’ with its implicit message comparing the UK police system to that of vicious piranhas. Crowds gathered to take photos throughout the day until barriers were installed, preventing people from going inside.
This work is the first, and only, of the series not to appear on a wall, with Banksy instead choosing a disused sentry box installed in the 1990s for police officers to monitor traffic to prevent IRA attacks.
Due to its location, within hours, the sentry box had barriers around it and constant police security to protect the artwork and visitors hoping to catch a closer look. The work has since been moved to Guildhall Yard to ensure it is properly protected and open for the public to view safely. A spokesperson has confirmed: "A permanent home for the piece will be decided in due course."
Monday 12th August
Image courtesy of PA Media
The eighth mural in eight days is located in Charlton, south-east London, and features a rhino mounting a Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet.
Hours after its confirmation from Banksy, the work was defaced by a "random youth" in a balaclava who "brazenly walked up and defaced the installation with a graffiti tag." The whole incident took place within less than 30 seconds before the defacer disappeared with another male accomplice further down the road.
The Nissan Micra has since been removed from the installation, leaving just the mural and its added defacing.
Tuesday 13th August
Image courtesy of Banksy
The grand finale of the series of works appeared on the shutters of London Zoo, with Pest Control confirming this was the last in the series shortly after. The work features a gorilla lifting the shutter to release a sea lion and birds, while other animals appear to look on from the inside.
A London Zoo spokesperson said it was "absolutely brilliant" and said the work would be preserved. Daniel Simmonds, London Zoo's animal operations manager, explained: "Banksy has become part of the London scene, and it’s really nice to share his iconic status with, ultimately, one of the most iconic zoos in the entire world.”
Banksy works available to purchase from Extraordinary Objects:
Gangsta Rat (2004)
‘Gangsta Rat’ depicts a black and white rat wearing a New York Mets baseball cap, a chain necklace, and carrying a ghetto blaster. The character portrayed is reminiscent of the New York underground style that was prevalent across the UK in the 1980s and 90s. The rat also appears to have tagged “iPow” on the wall behind him in spray paint. The image is an ironic social commentary on the ubiquity of Apple products, and POW is a clear reference to Banksy’s print publisher: Pictures on Walls.
Details:
Banksy
Gangsta Rat Green (2004)
Screenprint on paper
50 x 35 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 20
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Banksy initially released Gangsta Rat in the red colourway as an edition of 150, then later Gangsta Rat was produced in 6 rare colour-ways including blue, pink, green, grey, orange and mint. Banksy's appreciation for rats is often attributed to French stencil artist Blek le Rat, who is regarded as the ‘father of stencil graffiti’ and initiated urban art in France in the 1980s.
Details:
Banksy
Gangsta Rat Pink (2004)
Screenprint on paper
50 x 35 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 46
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Thrower (2019)
Thrower was produced in 2019 as part of Banksy’s homewear store Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Banksy fragmented his iconic Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower) into a triptych, focusing on the torso of his figure. Unlike his original spray painted mural, Thrower was executed with the manual printing technique of silk screen printing with GDP explaining, "This is Banksy’s first experiment with a new technique for making prints - spray the stencil onto processing film and expose the result directly onto a silk screen. This avoids photography or computer manipulation and creates a super accurate analogue representation of gestural mark making. In other words - looks pretty dope”.
Details:
Banksy
Thrower (2019)
Screenprinted triptych on micron board
211 x 108 x 5 cm
Signed by the artist
Edition of 300
Accompanied by Pest Control Authentication
Click below to view our full collection of works by Banksy and please get in touch for further details on any works featured