Transport for London (TfL) has removed Banksy’s new coronavirus-themed artwork from a London Underground carriage.
The Bristol artist uploaded footage captioned ”If you don’t mask – you don’t get” to social media on Tuesday afternoon, showing him spray-painting a Circle line train with stencilled depictions of rats.
One creature appeared to be sneezing pale blue droplets of virus across a carriage window, while one struggled under a face mask and another used the protective gear as a parachute.
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Hours later, TfL confirmed that the artwork was removed “some days ago due to our strict anti-graffiti policy”, but said it would welcome Banksy to recreate his message “in a suitable location”.
“We appreciate the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings, which the vast majority of customers on our transport network are doing,” a TfL spokesperson said.
1/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Seagull Attack” by Banksy sits near the entrance, proved to be a bit of a photo opportunity, a taxidermied seagull perches on the other side of the bench
Reuters
2/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
The Bill Barminski – Cardboard security entrance, visitors must first get through security to enter the park. This can include being searched, emptying bags and even being instructed to touch your toes.
Reuters
3/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Dismaland opened to the general public this weekend and everyone seems to be talking about it. Many have speculated whether long queues and website crashing issues are purposeful in order to make Dismaland that little bit more dismal.
Reuters
4/13 Dismaland19.jpg
The Bill Barminski – Cardboard security entrance, visitors must first get through security to enter the park. This can include being searched, emptying bags and even being instructed to touch your toes.
Reuters
5/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Visitors are handed their very own guide to the park inside, featuring the names of the installations and show-times. On the front it brands Dismaland “the UK’s most disappointing visitor attraction”.
Reuters
6/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
An overview of the park, set on the former site of Tropicana. Tropicana was closed in the 1990’s and since then has had rumours of regeneration. The exhibition will be the first major event on site since its heyday as a seaside attraction.
Reuters
7/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Topple the anvil and win the anvil” – just one of the many disappointing games visitors can try their hand at.
Reuters
8/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“What its really like to be a princess” the scene of Cinderella hanging lifeless outside her pumpkin carriage as paparazzi surround it inside the castle in the center of the park. A dark reference to the death of Princess Diana.
Reuters
9/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Mushroom Cloud made of Cotton by Artist Dietrich Wegner
Reuters
10/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
A twist on theme park boating games the white cliffs of dover provide a backdrop to boats of migrants and faceless bodies float in the black water.
Reuters
11/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Killer Whale jumping from a toilet” a piece by Banksy as a reference to the treatment of orca’s in seaworld parks.
Reuters
12/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
In classic Banksy style he applies his stencilling technique to a mural named “woman showering” when talking about the exhibition Banksy declared that he was aiming for something very different to street art.
Reuters
13/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Another piece by banksy looms above a lake referencing Jeffrey Archer
Reuters
1/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Seagull Attack” by Banksy sits near the entrance, proved to be a bit of a photo opportunity, a taxidermied seagull perches on the other side of the bench
Reuters
2/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
The Bill Barminski – Cardboard security entrance, visitors must first get through security to enter the park. This can include being searched, emptying bags and even being instructed to touch your toes.
Reuters
3/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Dismaland opened to the general public this weekend and everyone seems to be talking about it. Many have speculated whether long queues and website crashing issues are purposeful in order to make Dismaland that little bit more dismal.
Reuters
4/13 Dismaland19.jpg
The Bill Barminski – Cardboard security entrance, visitors must first get through security to enter the park. This can include being searched, emptying bags and even being instructed to touch your toes.
Reuters
5/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Visitors are handed their very own guide to the park inside, featuring the names of the installations and show-times. On the front it brands Dismaland “the UK’s most disappointing visitor attraction”.
Reuters
6/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
An overview of the park, set on the former site of Tropicana. Tropicana was closed in the 1990’s and since then has had rumours of regeneration. The exhibition will be the first major event on site since its heyday as a seaside attraction.
Reuters
7/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Topple the anvil and win the anvil” – just one of the many disappointing games visitors can try their hand at.
Reuters
8/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“What its really like to be a princess” the scene of Cinderella hanging lifeless outside her pumpkin carriage as paparazzi surround it inside the castle in the center of the park. A dark reference to the death of Princess Diana.
Reuters
9/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Mushroom Cloud made of Cotton by Artist Dietrich Wegner
Reuters
10/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
A twist on theme park boating games the white cliffs of dover provide a backdrop to boats of migrants and faceless bodies float in the black water.
Reuters
11/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
“Killer Whale jumping from a toilet” a piece by Banksy as a reference to the treatment of orca’s in seaworld parks.
Reuters
12/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
In classic Banksy style he applies his stencilling technique to a mural named “woman showering” when talking about the exhibition Banksy declared that he was aiming for something very different to street art.
Reuters
13/13 A Look Inside Dismaland Bemusement Park
Another piece by banksy looms above a lake referencing Jeffrey Archer
Reuters
“In this particular case, the work was removed some days ago due to our strict anti-graffiti policy.
“We’d like to offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location.”
The anonymous street artist posted the footage to Instagram as health secretary Matt Hancock announced a long-awaited change to the government’s rules on face coverings, making them mandatory in English shops from 24 July. Their usage has been decreed on public transport since 15 June.
The video begins with a laptop playing footage showing the London Underground being deep cleaned in May.
Banksy – clad in a white boiler suit, mask, goggles, blue gloves and an orange hi-viz jacket with the message “stay safe” printed on it – climbs on board a train posing as a TfL worker.
The video shows him ushering a masked passenger to move back, before stencilling various rats across the carriage.
It closes with a message sprayed on the wall of a Tube station reading “I get lockdown” with the doors of the Tube carriage closing to reveal the message, “but I get up again”, as Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” plays in the background.
His work was well-received on social media, with acclaimed Portuguese street artist, Vhils, writing: “Back to Basics”, with three fire emojis, and British artist Paul Jackson replying: “Awesome as always.”
It is one of a number of artworks he has created during the coronavirus lockdown.
In April, he created a series of rats causing mayhem in his bathroom and posted the caption: “My wife hates it when I work from home.”
Later that month, a large face mask was placed on his world-famous piece The Girl With The Pierced Eardrum on Bristol harbourside. In May, an artwork entitled Game Changer, showing an NHS nurse as a superhero toy, went on display at Southampton General Hospital.
In June, Banksy posted a piece inspired by Black Lives Matter with a caption, part of which read: “People of colour are being failed by the system.”
The following day, a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was toppled by protesters in Bristol and thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter march.
Banksy posted a sketch showing his idea for the empty plinth – retrieving the statue from the water, putting it back on the plinth with cables around its neck and life-size bronze statues of protesters pulling it down, ending the caption by by stating: “A famous day commemorated.”
Additional reporting by PA