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Banksy transforms his bathroom into rat art piece

It might not be in his usual street art context, but Banksy’s still making new pieces, this time in his house amidst the coronavirus lockdown.

We’re on week five of lockdown now? I think? All this time being confined to your own home can stifle your creativity – though Banksy has proven you can find inspiration even in the most unlikely of places.

Last Friday he posted a fresh work onto his Instagram page that we’ll call ‘rat art piece’. It’s now amassed over 2 million likes and its caption reads ‘my wife hates when I work from home’.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Aqdh4Jd5x/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

While an obvious poke at the bizarre circumstances, and the huge increase in employees now doing their jobs remotely from their living rooms, this is also a notably more comical piece than a typical Banksy. It’s a welcome moment of artistic humour that’s needed in these strange times, though I wouldn’t recommend you try and recreate this for yourself.

The work features a group of mischievous rats created in the trademark stencil Banksy design. Each one is causing its own unique chaos – knocking over cleaning products, skewing the mirror, and damaging toilet roll. It’s a piece that radiates movement and energy, encouraging a feeling of slightly unhinged madness at a time where most of us are probably sat stewing on our sofas.

There’s also a darker edge to this messy scene, as one of the rats has created a tally chart on the wall that one would usually associate with murder or a hit list. What or who have the rats been targeting exactly? Perhaps it’s best left unanswered.

Banksy’s creative output is obviously unique, but many others have been making new and bizarre work as a result of lockdown. Not only are TikTok skits and quarantine Twitter memes booming like never before, but artists and regular people have been creating DIY projects to express themselves. 50 creatives in Berlin have redecorated their balconies to add a little life to an otherwise eerily quiet city, and to add a sense of community during a period that can feel immensely lonely if you’re not too careful.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Banksy’s Instagram for the foreseeable future. Who knows where he may find inspiration next. Could we soon be seeing a kitchen piece with an infestation of stencil drawn flies? It doesn’t seem completely out of the question at this point.

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