The many ways Banksy has incorporated primates into his works
His latest image has monkeys looking as though they are swinging from an east London bridge.
Aside from Banksy wearing chimp masks to keep his identity secret, he has often featured primates in his works.
Three monkey silhouettes on a bridge in east London came on the third day of artwork reveals from the Bristol-based street artist.
On Monday he revealed a silhouette of one goat on a wall in Kew and on Tuesday a work in Chelsea showed two elephants heads.
The latest image, confirmed as a Banksy on Wednesday, has the monkeys looking as though they are swinging from an east London bridge.
Three monkeys have been associated with the Japanese proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, but Banksy does not have the animals covering their eyes, ears or mouths.
Here is a round-up of other primate-based work by Banksy:
– Monkey Queen, 2003
This work saw the playful animal depicted in black and with the red, white and blue colours of the Union flag, following the festivities around the Golden Jubilee.
In it, the monkey is seen wearing necklace and a crown, similar to portraits of the late Queen.
– Monkey Detonator, 2000s
Showing a long-tailed monkey jumping on a yellow TNT plunger, the work was first seen on a wall of an industrial unit, before being put on canvas using a stencil.
When the spray paint canvas was sold in 2021 it went for 2.19 million dollars (£1.72 million) at an Christie’s auction.
– Original Concept for Barely Legal Poster (after Demi Moore), 2006
He made a parody of actress Demi Moore’s Vanity Fair magazine cover, featuring a naked, heavily pregnant figure clutching her belly and wearing the mask associated with Banksy while smoking a cigarette.
The two metre-tall canvas was unveiled in the graffiti artist’s debut US exhibition in 2006, and later sold by Sotheby’s in 2021 for £2.68 million.
– Gorilla In A Pink Mask, 2001
One of the earliest Banksy works was drawn on the side of a former social club in Eastville, Bristol – Banksy’s home city.
It was accidentally painted over by a community worker in 2011, and in 2020 it was removed from the Jalalabad Islamic Centre.
– Devolved Parliament, 2009
The painting depicted MPs in the House of Commons as chimpanzees and some orangutans, and he said of it in 2009: “You paint 100 chimpanzees and they still call you a guerrilla artist.”
In 2019, Sotheby’s sold it for £9.87 million.
Chimpanzees first appeared in his work in 2002, with his piece Laugh Now, which shows a row of apes wearing aprons and carries the inscription “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge”.
