Banksy Claims New Swimming Fish Artwork on Central London Police Box

Banksy has confirmed that he is responsible for a new swimming fish artwork that has appeared on a police sentry box in the City of London.

This marks the seventh animal-themed piece from the elusive street artist this week, revealed by a post on his Instagram at 1 pm today. Banksy appears to have used translucent spray paint on the glass windows to create the design, transforming the sentry box into what resembles a giant fish tank.

The artwork stands out from Banksy’s previous darker silhouette images of a goat, elephants, monkeys, a wolf, pelicans, and a cat, which have surfaced in various locations across London since Monday.

After its appearance, two City of London police officers arrived to examine the design, taking pictures from the outside of the police box. An officer informed the PA news agency that they were asked to check out the artwork after it was spotted on CCTV cameras.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Spooner of the City of London Police mentioned in a statement to PA, “We are aware of criminal damage to a City of London Police box in Ludgate Hill. We are liaising with the City of London Corporation who own the police box.”

The new style variation led to speculation on its authenticity, with a City of London worker stating to PA that they didn’t believe it to be a genuine Banksy piece. Three Banksy fans from the West Midlands also visited to see the new design. They had traveled to London for the weekend to view all the new pieces across the city.

Before Banksy’s confirmation, one of the men expressed uncertainty about the fish design, having heard about a seal artwork elsewhere, which they planned to see afterwards. Another member of the group mentioned that if the fish artwork were indeed Banksy’s, it would probably be his favorite from this week’s revelations.

A local resident also visited the piece, eager to see it before anything potentially happened to it. She noted, “I walked up here yesterday and I don’t remember seeing it. I think I would have noticed it. I like it, it’s got a charm to it somehow. It’s not in your face, it’s quite subtle.”

On Saturday, Banksy’s sixth piece—a stretching cat on an empty, distressed advertising billboard—was removed from its north-west London location just hours after its unveiling. Crowds booed as the artwork in Cricklewood was dismantled by three men who claimed they were hired by a “contracting company” to take down the billboard for safety reasons.

A contractor, who only identified himself as Marc, told PA that they initially planned to take down the board on Monday and replace it. However, the removal was expedited to Saturday to prevent potential damage and safety concerns.

An officer at the scene stated that the billboard owner intends to donate it to an art gallery. The cat design was the second artwork to be removed during the week, following the quick removal of a howling wolf painting on a satellite dish from a shop roof in Peckham, south London. A witness mentioned filming the removal, prompting one of the men to throw his phone onto a roof.

A Banksy spokesperson told PA that the artist neither endorses nor is connected to the wolf design’s theft, and they are unaware of the dish’s current location.

The first piece in Banksy’s new animal-themed series, announced on Monday, is near Kew Bridge in south-west London. It features a goat with rocks cascading down beneath it, just above a CCTV camera.

On Tuesday, Banksy added silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks extended towards one another on a building’s side in Chelsea, west London. Subsequently, three swinging monkeys appeared under a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing shop in the popular market street in east London, close to Shoreditch High Street.

The fifth piece, depicting pelicans nabbing fish from a London chip shop sign in Walthamstow, east London, was revealed on Friday.