Banksy, whose real identity has not been officially confirmed, posted a video on his Instagram account showing its installation under the cover of darkness using heavy machinery.<\/p>\n
Best known for his satirical murals, often using a distinctive stencilling style, the artist typically uses the platform to confirm his works, posting images and captions.<\/p>\n
A video shared to social media also featured an anonymous passerby giving some critical feedback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like it. That\u2019s a nice statue up there \u2013 I prefer that,\u201d the unidentified elderly man says, pointing up the street.<\/p>\n
The new statue stands in Waterloo Place, in the heart of central London, close to statues of King Edward VII and nurse Florence Nightingale, as well as the Crimean War Memorial.<\/p>\n
\u2018Intriguing\u2019<\/p>\n
The statue\u2019s public unveiling comes just over a month after a Reuters investigation claimed to have confirmed the famously enigmatic artist\u2019s true identity.<\/p>\n
It backed up a similar claim by the Mail on Sunday tabloid nearly two decades ago that he is a 52-year-old Briton, born as Robin Gunningham, who later changed his name to David Jones.<\/p>\n
The report relied in part on a New York arrest record from 2000, as well as witness testimony from a more recent visit to Ukraine by Banksy.<\/p>\n
The artist typically creates a media and public frenzy whenever he reveals a new piece of art, and the new statue was no exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Banksy, it\u2019s a limited-time event because it\u2019s public art \u2013 you don\u2019t know how long it\u2019s going to be up,\u201d said 23-year-old student Ollie Isaac as he joined dozens taking a look.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s brilliant,\u201d he told AFP, musing the piece was a response to \u201cthe resurgence of nationalism in the world and this country\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat suit screams politician,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Teacher Lynette Cloraleigh, 55, came down after a friend posted about the statue on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like it,\u201d she said. \u201cI like where it is. (It\u2019s) intriguing how it got here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work is not the first unofficial statue Banksy has unveiled in the British capital.<\/p>\n
His work known as The Drinker, which satirised Auguste Rodin\u2019s iconic bronze sculpture The Thinker, was unveiled in 2004 on nearby Shaftesbury Ave.<\/p>\n
It was stolen soon afterwards and then endured years of contested ownership.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Westminster Council, responsible for the area where the new statue has appeared, said in a statement: \u201cWe\u2019re excited to see Banksy\u2019s latest sculpture … making a striking addition to the city\u2019s vibrant public art scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council added it has \u201ctaken initial steps to protect the statue\u201d, but for now \u201cit will remain accessible for the public to view and enjoy\u201d.<\/p>\n
-Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Banksy, whose real identity has not been officially confirmed, posted a video on his Instagram account showing its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1628,13627,4057,161042,46330,3595,1853,2223,13242,26636,3072,9094,156,18940,692,21666,296,185,1619,5158,117,111,139,69,1118,3790,5424,208894,208893,1361,9880,173899,6123,4576],"class_list":["post-405615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-artist","tag-banksy","tag-behind","tag-blinded","tag-blocks","tag-by","tag-central","tag-confirmed","tag-confirms","tag-crowds","tag-drawing","tag-elusive","tag-entertainment","tag-flag","tag-he","tag-holding","tag-into","tag-is","tag-london","tag-man","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-statue","tag-street","tag-striding","tag-suited","tag-that","tag-view","tag-void","tag-while","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}