The elusive artist Banksy has been showing a spate of animal-themed drawings in London over the past week – his latest work features a group of piranhas on a police watchtower.
The new killer fish street graffiti was first discovered on Sunday morning and is one of seven new works by Banksy that have been spread across the city in just a few days.
The street artist’s new series of artworks also includes a goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf howling in the moonlight, two pelicans and a cat stretched out, according to recent Instagram posts in which he takes credit for the artworks.
The group of piranhas, apparently swimming in an aquarium on the glass booth of the London police, is located on Ludgate Hill near the Old Bailey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, according to the BBC.
Crowds reportedly quickly gathered at the stand to take photos of the new art before authorities erected barriers.
Artist Daniel Lloyd-Morgan described the week-long art display as “uplifting.”
“It’s not just about the artwork, it’s about the whole environment he creates. It becomes a kind of artwork in itself – what happens to it if people steal it or take it away,” he told the BBC.
Some of the new pieces did not remain untouched for long.
The wolf on a satellite dish was removed by suspected thieves and the cat on a blank billboard was taken down by developers who plan to donate it to an art gallery, the Guardian reported.
A spokesman for the City of London Corporation told the news agency that they were working to ensure the preservation of the piranhas on the police emergency call box.
