Banksy’s painting of a rhino mounting a car in south east London
Banksy has unveiled yet another animal mural in London as his graffiti campaign enters a second week.
The eighth mural shows a rhino mounting a silver Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its hood to resemble a fellow rhinoceros.
It appeared today on Westmoor Street, Charlton, near the Thames Barrier in south east London.
Painted in more detail than most of his recent silhouettes, the rhino looks like it’s actually weighing down the car, which is slightly tilting back on its rear wheels.
It’s sure to fuel a fierce debate over whether his graffiti campaign has a greater meaning yet to be revealed, or is just a bit of fun.
The mystery has been gathering steam since the elusive artist, whose identity remains uncertain, revealed the first piece of this series on Monday last week.
Banksy’s murals have popped up all over London – from north to south, and east to west (Picture: Metro/Getty Images)
Early that morning, a painting of a goat appeared balancing on a pillar with rocks falling off at Kew Green in Richmond.
Then two elephants appeared on Edith Terrace, Chelsea, where the average price of a home reached over £750,000 in the last year alone, according to RightMove.
On Wednesday it seemed a pattern was emerging, with three monkeys painted like they were swinging across a London Overground bridge over Brick Lane.
But that trend of rising numbers was broken on Wednesday when a lone wolf howling towards the sky appeared on a satellite dish on Rye Lane in Peckham.
It was stolen by three men who scaled the roof with a ladder just an hour later.
Two pelicans eating fish were spotted atop the sign of Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow on Friday morning.
A black cat was then spotted stretching on a dilapidated billboard, overgrown with leaves, on Saturday before contractors were seen removing it.
A goat balancing precariously on a pillar with rocks falling off, on Kew Green in Richmond (Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)
Two elephants reaching from windows to touch each other’s trunks on a building on Esther Terrace, Chelsea (Picture: Banksy)
Three monkeys swinging across a Brick Lane railway bridge (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
A wolf howling at the sky before the satellite dish it was painted on got stolen on Rye Lane, Peckham (Picture: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/Shutterstock/Rex Features)
Two pelicans eating fish above a fish bar on Northcote Road, Walthamstow
A cat stretching on a dilapidated billboard on Edgware Road in Cricklewood (Picture: SWNS)
A school of piranhas swimming in the windows of a police box on Ludgate Hill in the City of London (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Banksy has promptly confirmed their authenticity by sharing a photo of the new artwork with his nearly 13million Instagram followers around 1pm each day.
His campaign is leading people to speculate he may be building up to a big reveal.
The artist may be trying to cheer people up with ‘unexpected amusement’ amid bleak headlines, The Observer reported yesterday.
‘What’s different this time’, expert Paul Gough told Metro, ‘is that Banksy usually leaves it a bit of time, keeps people guessing whether a piece of work is authentically his.
‘This time he is confirming it is his work straightaway, something we have not ever seen before.’
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