Elusive artist Banksy has confirmed that he painted swimming fish on a City of London Police guard booth, which was first spotted on Sunday morning.
The glass-fronted box on Ludgate Hill – near the Old Bailey and St Paul’s Cathedral – has been redesigned to look like an aquarium.
This is already his seventh new work of art to be unveiled in the capital within a few days.
Since Monday, stenciled silhouettes of a goat, elephants, monkeys, a wolf, pelicans and a cat have appeared in various locations in London.
This work differs from Banksy’s previous works unveiled this week in that it is a detailed painting that appears to have been painted with translucent spray paint.
Two officers from the City of London Police visited the guardhouse and took photographs.
An official said the artwork was captured on surveillance cameras and they were asked to come and see it.
He added that they were waiting to hear what would be done about it.
In a statement, Det Ch Insp Andy Spooner said: “We are aware of criminal damage at a City of London Police station in Ludgate Hill.”
“We are in contact with the City of London Corporation, which owns the police emergency call box.”
A local resident came to take photos of the fish artwork as she had heard it might be by Banksy. She said: “I went up here yesterday and I don’t remember seeing it. I think I would have noticed it.”
“I like it, it has a certain charm. It’s not intrusive, but rather subtle.
“I know some of the others have been stolen, so I wanted to come and take a look.
“It’s actually quite nice in the sun.”
“Big Banksy fans”
Three people travelled from the West Midlands to London for a weekend to see Banksy’s latest artworks in the city.
Before it was confirmed to be by Banksy, a man who had travelled from the Black Country said he was unsure if the fish artwork was by Banksy and that he had heard reports of a seal in another location that they wanted to look at.
He said: “We came here this weekend, we are big Banksy fans.”
Another man in the group said that if the fish artwork was by Banksy, it was probably his favorite of those unveiled this week.
Along with CCTV and road-narrowing bollards, police stations like this one were set up around the Square Mile in the 1990s to protect the city from terrorist attacks during the IRA riots. Police officers stood guard there and monitored traffic.
On Saturday, the artist’s sixth work – a stretching cat on an empty, dilapidated billboard – was removed from its location in northwest London, hours after it was discovered.
The crowd booed as the billboard was taken down in Cricklewood by three men who said they had been hired by a “construction company” to take down the billboard for safety reasons.
Hours after Banksy confirmed the design was his own, crowds from across London gathered to see the work before the men claiming to be contractors arrived.
At the request of the police, a blackboard was initially used to cover the cat artwork on the billboard to prevent people from walking in front of traffic on the road.
The cat-themed artwork was the second piece of art to be removed during the week, following a painting of a howling wolf on a satellite dish that was ripped off the roof of a shop in Peckham, south London, less than an hour after it was unveiled.
The artist has been making daily announcements on his Instagram page since Monday and claiming the works.
Additional reporting from PA Media.
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