Banksy has left his mark on the side of a building in north London.
Overnight on Saturday a bright green mural depicting tree foliage appeared beside a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose in Finsbury Park.
The graphic was placed on the wall behind a bare tree which appears to have been heavily pruned and pollarded.
James Peak, the creator of the BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story, said the bright “virulent” green paint matches the colour of the road signs the Islington council uses.
“So, when you step back, it looks like the tree has burst into life, but in a noticeably fake and synthetic way. And it’s pretty subtle for a massive tree, I’d say,” Peak said.
“It’s spring now, and this tree should be bursting forth with leaves, but Banksy must have cycled past and thought how miserable it looks.”
Banksy’s official Instagram page shows before and after images of the site which have garnered more than a million likes since they were posted on Monday.
The artwork on Hornesy Road has sparked conversation over what it could mean as many of the phantom artist’s works contain an underlying political message.
One X user asked if we can save the environment, using the word “greenwash” which describes how green marketing deceptively persuades the public that an organisation’s aims and products are environmentally friendly.
“Will we greenwash away till the demise of nature and us all?” the user wrote.
Ross Clarke, writing for the Spectator UK, posed a different question: “Why is a chip shop owner threatened with enforcement action for painting a mural on his own building while Bansky is allowed to paint anywhere?”
Meanwhile, another simply said: “Banksy came overnight and now my rent will skyrocket”.
The owner of the building, Alex Georgiou, who bought the block of flats for £400,000 in 2012, told the Daily Mail he would not charge more rent since the mural appeared.
“I was having a bit of a laugh with the girls who were saying I was gonna put the rent up 250 per cent but no no. I doubt it,” he said.
Mr Georgiou said he heard about the mural on Sunday evening and went to see it on Monday morning for the first time.
“It’s quite mad to be honest, to come down here and just to see all the crowds of people looking at the building,” he said.
“The question is, what do I do with it now? What am I meant to do with it now?”
https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-kingdom/brand-new-banksy-mural-appears-in-north-london-with-crowds-flocking-to-find-the-phantom-artists-latest-work/news-story/96e1c6a4957919300a32b4d9f5da03b1
