Banksy’s Rhino Artwork in London Vandalized with Graffiti Tag

One of the eight murals put up by Banksy in London in as many days has been defaced.

An image of a rhino appearing to mount a clapped-out Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet appeared in south-east London on Monday and was confirmed as a Banksy piece on the artist’s Instagram account.

Later that evening, a man in a balaclava holding a can of white paint was filmed spraying a tag on it, despite the crowd’s shouts of: “Don’t do that.”

The tag left by the man appears to be a dollar sign and a V. Banksy isn’t universally popular among street artists, partly due to his mainstream success and his use of stencils rather than freehand painting.

One witness, Devan Vadukul, told the BBC that a “random youth” had “brazenly walked up and defaced the installation with a graffiti tag.”

Vadukul stated, “The whole incident took place within less than 30 seconds before he disappeared with another male accomplice further down the road.”

Banksy has been uploading images of animals stenciled in London on eight consecutive days at around 1pm.

His first piece, on 5 August, featured a goat perched on a wall. This was followed by silhouettes of elephants, monkeys, a wolf, pelicans, and a cat.

On Sunday, Banksy confirmed that he was behind the addition of a school of piranhas to a police sentry box in the City of London.

Barriers were subsequently placed around the box, and the City of London Corporation announced that the artwork had been moved to a “safe location” in Guildhall Yard.

Source: The Guardian