New Banksy works have appeared in the French capital, Paris. The murals depict messages about Europe’s migrant crisis, capitalism and globalisation. It also marks 50 years since the Paris Student Uprising in 1968 which is also acknowledged.
This is the first time the elusive artist has created work in Paris. Some of the paintings appear around the area of the Sorbonne. The artist uses his medium to take a pot shot at the lack of French revolutionary activism and spirit in the nation today. In one mural Banksy’s trademark rat is wearing a Minnie Mouse bow a dig at Disneyland Paris one of France’s largest employers. In another a rat is propelled into the air on a Champagne cork.
The work was timed to coincide with World Refugee Day which happened on the 20 June. Another image of a veiled woman has appeared on a small street behind the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed by Islamist terrorists in November 2015.
Banksy has also reworked an iconic painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the French emperor Napoleon crossing the Alps on horseback with a red headscarf wrapped around his face. This has been seen as a reference to France’s 2010 ban on face coverings in public notably the niqab worn by Muslim women. The iconic 19th Century image is in one of France’s most important works of art and a national symbol. The mural has appeared in one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Paris.
Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol, who uses subversive epigrams and dark humour to provide political and social commentary on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy authentication and artist enquiries should be directed to Pest Control: www.pestcontroloffice.com
Banksy was back super-active with a vengeance in NYC in March 2018. He created murals protesting Zehra Dogan who was jailed for two years and nine months last year in Turkey, for her painting of the Kurdish town Nusaybin.The representation had been taken from a newspaper photograph and showed the town reduced to rubble during the conflict.
