His latest work, believed to be painted overnight on the wall of a chemist’s shop in Islington, bears the imprint of his trademark militant beliefs.
The painting shows two children pledging allegiance to supermarket chain Tesco as a third unfurls a plastic bag shaped flag.
The thrilled pharmacy owner told the London Paper: "I am absolutely delighted - I think it's just fantastic. We would consider selling the wall, but not the shop. I think anyone who would want to erase it is crazy. It's a piece of art."
And though the street artist’s work has brought him much fame, Banksy refuses to step into the limelight.
“I have no interest in revealing my identity,” he has said before. “The way I see it, there are enough self-opinionated a******* trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is.”
Bansky’s art is satirical and very political; his works reflects his anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-establishment ideals.
“Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and is the voice of people,” he has said.
And it is very evident in his controversial work, which includes the two kissing bobbies in Soho; the napalmed Vietnamese girl stretching her hand out to Mickey Mouse; and Ronald McDonald and a girl flying over Israel’s West Bank barrier in balloons.
A Revolutionary
The mystery surrounding Banksy has grown in proportion to his fame, which has sky-rocketed in the years after he first began spray-tagging Bristol’s trains and walls in 1993.
Banksy’s brand of militant art has since gone international. In August last year he went to the West Bank barrier that divides Israel and Palestine and painted a ladder going up and over the wall, complete with children digging a hole through to the other side.
Referring to the graffiti, he said, “As a graffiti writer you have to make a pilgrimage to the biggest wall on earth at some point. It is the most politically unjust structure in the world today. The wall is illegal under international law and essentially turns Palestine into the world's largest open prison."
A few years earlier, he provoked a media storm at home when he painted the Queen to look like a chimpanzee and put it on a wall outside the Tate Gallery. “They [the paintings] are good enough to be in there, so I don’t see why I should wait,” he said.
A street artist
In recent years, Banksy has begun painting on canvas and revisiting iconic works. He added a rocket launcher to the Mona Lisa and interchanged Marilyn Monroe’s face with that of Kate Moss in Andy Warhol’s iconic painting.
Though his newer work has taken Banksy away from the streets, the Guerrilla Artist hasn’t changed his views. “Every other type of art is a step down when compared to graffiti... I make normal paintings if I have ideas that are too complex or offensive to go out on the street, but if I ever stopped being a graffiti writer I would be gutted.”
