Banksy has unveiled the fifth work in an apparently animal-themed series, a work of art depicting pelicans stealing fish from the sign of a London fish and chip shop.
Previously, his fourth artwork of the week, a wolf howling on a satellite dish, was removed on Thursday afternoon less than an hour after the street artist unveiled it online.
Located at Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow, the new artwork features a bird bending down to grab a fish on the snack bar’s sign while another throws a fish into the air.
Local Labour MP Stella Creasy has praised the new works at the fish and chip shop on Northcote Road in her constituency.
She said: “Walthamstow. Where even our fish and chip shop is a bit cooler than all the others.”
“While it’s no Banksy, it’s brilliant and the chips there are magical. However, the owner is currently on holiday so you’ll have to wait to confirm that for yourself.
“So thank you to whoever brought this bit of magic to our street art today.”
The first graffiti from Banksy’s new animal-themed series, unveiled on Monday, is located near Kew Bridge in southwest London and shows a goat with stones falling beneath it, directly above where a security camera is installed.
On Tuesday, the artist added another design to the collection: silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks reaching out to each other on the side of a building near Chelsea.
This was followed by a trio of monkeys that looked like they were swinging under a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing store on the popular market street in east London, not far from Shoreditch High Street.
On Thursday, Banksy’s howling wolf artwork was removed by three men in Peckham, south-east London, a witness told the PA news agency. He filmed the three men, after which one of them threw his phone onto a roof.
“It’s a great pity that we can’t have nice things, and it’s a pity that it couldn’t last more than an hour,” he said.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “We were called at 1.52pm on Thursday 8 August to a report of a stolen satellite dish containing artwork in Rye Lane, Peckham.
“There were no arrests. The investigation is ongoing.”
Another Banksy artwork from Peckham was removed within an hour of being confirmed as authentic in December 2023.
Witnesses saw the artwork – a stop sign covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones – being removed by a man using bolt cutters.
The street artist, whose identity is unknown but who is the subject of much speculation, was recently criticised by then Home Secretary James Cleverly, who said the artwork he created for the Glastonbury Festival “trivialises” small boat crossings and was “disgusting”.
The artist had confirmed that he was the person behind a dinghy full of migrant dolls that was used for crowd surfing during performances by Bristol indie punk band Idles and rapper Little Simz at the music festival in June.
