LONDON – British street artist Banksy revealed his latest street artwork in Britain on Dec 22 – only for two men to run off with it just hours later while being filmed by bemused onlookers.
The installation, a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft resembling military drones, was erected at an intersection in Peckham, south London, on the morning of Dec 22.
An image was posted to Banksy’s social media just after midday.
But shortly afterwards, bystanders filmed two men taking it down and one of them running off with the sign under his arm.
Images and video footage of the removal were posted on social media.
“We said, ‘What are you doing?’, but no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen,” a 26-year-old local resident named Alex told Britain’s Press Association (PA).
“We were all a bit bemused... He ripped it off and ran across the road and ran away.”
PA said it understood that Banksy was not behind the removal.
London’s Metropolitan Police said they have not received any reports in relation to the incident.
Southwark Council, the local authority responsible for services – including street signage – in that part of London, did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not the first time the famously enigmatic artist’s works have been removed shortly after appearing.
A mural depicting a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a real chest freezer appeared briefly in Margate, south-east England, before being promptly removed by local officials.
It re-emerged in September in the foyer of The Art Of Banksy exhibition in central London, where it can be viewed free.
The exhibition features other famous Banksy pieces, including Girl With Balloon, Flower Thrower and Rude Copper, and his other recent works addressing the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a rare nugget of information about the elusive global art phenomenon emerged in November in an unearthed 2003 BBC interview, in which he revealed his first name as “Robbie”. AFP
