Opinion: Banksy’s London Zoo – the simple joy of art in difficult times

London has been teeming with animal paintings in recent days. They are the work of Banksy, the mysterious street artist who has been placing works of art in unexpected places since the 1990s.

Over the past two weeks he has spray-painted a mountain goat on a pillar in west London, two elephants stretching their trunks over a brick wall, and a rhinoceros standing on its hind legs climbing onto a car or – and here I must digress – taking advantage of the automobile beneath it.

According to ARTnews, one of Banksy's 13 million followers on Instagram stated, “This has to be a metaphor for technology replacing nature—perhaps a comment on AI and job security,” which, I must confess, was not my reaction when I saw the lecherous rhino and the car.

Banksy also painted a pair of pelicans above a fish and chip bar, monkeys dangling by their arms or tails on the side of a railway bridge, as well as a wolf and a cat.

Each of the works posted on Banksy's Instagram page includes the hashtag “#LondonZoo.” On Tuesday, London woke up to see a Banksy image on a security shutter at the zoo, depicting a gorilla lifting a cover to let a seal and five birds flap freely out.

Did Banksy's recent artworks say, “Come and see the animals in this zoo!”? Or, “Isn't it outrageous that animals are locked up in a zoo?”

But Vanessa Thorpe, the Guardian's arts correspondent, says the Pest Control Office, the organisation that supports Banksy's work, told her such theories were “far too complicated… (T)he latest street art is intended to cheer the public at a time when the headlines are grim.”

When looking for artistic statements to support an argument, we can forget that art can also simply bring joy.

Copyright: NPR