Banksy-style artwork of rat holding an umbrella at rail station in Japan could be elusive Brit’s latest, local officials claim
A BANKSY-style artwork of a rat holding an umbrella at a rail station in Japan could be the elusive Brit artist’s latest discovered work, local officials claim.
Government officials from Tokyo pointed out the work’s similarity to one of Banksy’s other famous works, which also shows a rat with an umbrella.
The new piece appeared on a door near a monorail station in the centre of the city, government official Koji Sugiyama told AFP.
It appears to have been done late last year, with residents phoning in about the graffiti at about that time.
Sugiyama said: "We think there's a possibility it has been done by Banksy."
The government removed the door and placed it in storage yesterday to protect it from possible damage, Sugiyama said.
The government were reportedly in discussions on how to verify the painting.
The identity of Banksy, a street artist from Bristol known for his political commentary through art, is known to only a handful of friends.
The artist showed his sense of humour last October when a painting of his sold for £1million – moments before it shredded itself via a machine built into the frame.
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This led to the value of the artwork actually increasing, and led to some other owners attempting to copy the shredding process, and ruining valuable artwork in the process.
In 2017 a British claimed to have unmasked the mysterious graffiti artist after photographing a man finishing off an artwork in Bethlehem which later appeared on his website.
Meanwhile in December last year a steelworker woke up to find a £1million Banksy painted on his garage in South Wales.
WHO IS BANKSY?
Rumours have long circulated about the true identity of street artist Banksy.
A number of people claim to have spotted him at work but no sighting has ever been officially confirmed while other clues have been used to try and unmask the legend.
- Robin Gunningham was an early candidate to be "revealed" as the man behind Banksy in 2008. Years later researchers at Queen Mary University of London used "geographic profiling" to match the locations of Banksy paintings to a pub, playing fields and residential addresses with links to Gunningham. Representatives for the artist have denied the theory.
- Robert Del Naja was touted as the anonymous artist in 2017 when Bristol DJ Goldie appeared to name the Massive Attack member, a personal friend, in an interview. He said: "No disrespect to Rob, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over."
- Liverpool pub sighting - A photo showing a man wearing a high-vis jacket appearing to start work on a painting of a giant white rat on the White Horse pub in Liverpool in 2004 sparked speculation Banksy had finally been unmasked.
- Bethlehem pictures - William Kasper, from London, believed he had unmasked the graffiti king with pictures captured in 2007. Members of the public later identified the painter as James Ame - also known as aka AM72 - a UK painter who lives in Israel.
- Bristol video footage - Grainy 47-second clip shows a man in a hoodie and a painter's face mask using stencils and cardboard to spray fresh graffiti in an underpass in Bansky's native Bristol in 2010.
- Dismaland sighting - In 2015, fans were convinced they spotted a man who they thought might look like Banksy outside his Dismaland installation in Weston-super-Mare. But to their disappointment, it was later revealed to be a parking attendant from the local council.
- A collective of artists - Another theory is that Banksy is not one person but a team of street artists. In 2016, Scottish journalist Craig Williams claimed that Del Naja was a member of the group.
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