New Banksy mural in London draws crowds and praise

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Crowds have been gathering in an unlikely area of London to catch a glimpse of a new mural by elusive street artist Banksy.

The artwork appeared on the side of a residential building in Finsbury Park, a usually quiet neighborhood in Islington in north London, overnight on Sunday, and the anonymous street artist confirmed it as his own on Monday.

Painted on a wall behind a cut-back tree, the mural creates the illusion of foliage with green paint on the side of an apartment building on Hornsey Road, and a life-size stencil of a person holding a sprayer at the bottom. Many believe the mural has an environmental message.

After a storm of speculation, the anonymous artist confirmed on Instagram that he was behind the piece, posting before and after photos of the wall.

Footfall spiked dramatically in the area as locals and tourists streamed in to snap photos and selfies of the latest offering from the renowned graffiti artist.

Christian, a German tourist who landed in London on Sunday with his wife and daughter, said they wasted no time in getting to Finsbury Park.

“We read about the new Banksy piece in London on the internet and came here spontaneously to see it,” he told Anadolu.

“We just took the opportunity to have a look at a piece by him, an original piece (he made) himself and that came by surprise.”

Banksy’s political and social commentary over the years has only added to his worldwide appeal.

“I think it is quite interesting that he is making social comments on different things, nowadays on war, on environmental things, on social things,” said Christian.

“People are buying his work for millions of dollars and it’s quite interesting that street art has become such a different thing now.”

Another visitor was Hazel, who used to live in the neighborhood before moving to Bristol.

“I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s a really nice show of nature … and artwork,” she told Anadolu.

“I think it’s lovely … to have all of these people come to Finsbury Park to look at something. I think that’s great, a really good thing.”

Before this mural, Banksy’s last confirmed piece was back in December, when he painted military drones on a stop sign in south London.

The drones resembled the US-made MQ-1 Predator, and though the artist never explained the piece, it was widely interpreted as a call for a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The work was removed in less than an hour, with photos and videos showing it was taken down by a person with bolt cutters, aided by an accomplice. Police later arrested two men on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.