Toilet humour
Banksy has created a lockdown artwork in his bathroom
It can be pretty tough to stay productive during lockdown. Banksy, however, is clearly managing: the elusive, Bristol-based artist last night shared a series of new works created in his bathroom, alongside the tongue-in-cheek caption “my wife hates it when I work from home.”
The inventive result of Banksy’s lockdown creativity is a kind of mural, which creeps off the walls onto his towel rack, mirror and down the toilet. Rats swing from the lights and step on toothpaste tubes in the beautifully chaotic scene, which retains his signature sense of humour and brings a sense of lightness to the ongoing self-isolation – notice the all-too-relatable rat counting down the days in red lipstick on the walls.
The post also marks his first confirmed, publicly-shared work since this year’s Valentine’s Day mural, which was vandalised within 48 hours of its creation. “I’m kind of glad the Barton Hill work got vandalised,” he later wrote in an Instagram post showing the work in progress. “The original sketches were a lot better.”
It’s this rule-bending attitude that makes him one of the art world’s most brilliantly unpredictable names, to the extent that he famously destroyed one of his own paintings after it sold for $1million. Keep an eye out: if anyone can find creative ways to entertain their fans during lockdown, it’s Banksy.