Banksy’s new London tree mural has already been vandalised

20 March, 2024

Crowds gather in Finsbury Park to catch a glimpse of a new mural by elusive street artist Banksy in London, United Kingdom on March 19, 2024.

Banksy’s new tree mural in London has already been vandalised, just three days after it was made.

The artwork painted appeared overnight on the side of a block of homes in Islington, and showed green paint behind a cut-back mature tree to look like foliage. It also included a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose next to it.

Banksy later confirmed that he was responsible for the mural on Instagram after posting an image of the tree before he painted the artwork.

However, just days after it was made it has already been defaced, with vandals hurling white paint across the artwork. Local authorities have now erected a metal security fence around the area.

“This is why we can’t have nice things. #Banksy mural defaced after just 3 days,” wrote BBC journalist Anna O’Neill on X this morning (March 20), while trainee clinical psychologist Amy, who lives in the apartment block, also shared a picture of the damage writing “Gutted. Why can’t people let a community be happy without trying to ruin it?”.

Banksy fan and photographer Matt Adamiak, 42, also shared pictures of the artwork this morning, and told the Daily Mail: “I got there at 6am this morning as it was getting light, there was hardly anyone around – then I noticed someone had thrown white paint or something over it.”

“It’s massively noticeable in person – looking at the way it’s been thrown it looks like someone’s climbed over the fence to throw it. It’s difficult to tell how they’ve done it but they’ve definitely ruined it,” he added.

“It’s all been cordoned off so people can’t get in there, but it looks like someone had climbed over – maybe it was someone throwing paint over it to ruin it just because they can, it’s difficult to say.”

Prior to it being defaced, the Islington Council hailed the artwork as “fantastic” and said that it had “ sparked a real buzz across Islington and beyond”. “We very much want the artwork to stay for people to enjoy. We want to find more ways that we can tell important stories through art and culture,” they added.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also said he was “delighted” to see the artwork in his Islington North constituency, adding that “it gives the idea that we could do with much more greenery everywhere”.

Last year, Banksy unveiled a new anti-war artwork in Peckham, South London, featuring a ‘STOP’ traffic sign emblazoned with war aircraft which later resulted in two men being arrested over the apparent theft of the artwork.

Banksy also created seven new murals in various locations across Ukraine, which had been badly impacted by the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that the elusive artist could be forced to reveal his real name if a legal tussle over the authenticity of one of his prints winds up in court.

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