A mural that appeared overnight on a residential building in north London is the work of Banksy, the anonymous street artist has confirmed.
The artist claimed the work as his own in an Instagram post on Monday, following a morning of speculation after it was spotted on Hornsey Road in Finsbury Park.
The mural is painted on a wall that sits behind a tree as the viewer looks south-east down Hornsey Road.
It features a lifesize depiction of a woman holding a pressure washer, having apparently sprayed green paint up the side of a block of flats. Viewed with the tree in the foreground and centred on the wall, the green paint mimics the foliage of the plant, which has been cut back in a process known as pollarding.
Banksy is cool and all, but it feels so weird that so many people are praising it. You know most of them would have an aneurysm of it was some random improving an ugly, unused lot.
The fun thing about Banksy is how they spotlight the arrogant pretension of the white upper class art world. They produce deliberately bad art. Graffiti and vandalism and complete trash no different from any 12-year-old with a spray can and an attitude. And when it’s good, it draws on the culture and traditions of poor, mostly black and Hispanic America, that the white upper class are world holds in absolute contempt.
And the Sotheby’s crowd fawns on Banksy. Solely because they have a recognizable name and other art critics have praised them.
It really emphasizes how much modern art is a popularity contest and how little the actual art matters.
Not a pressure washer.
