The work is called "If you don't mask - you don't get" and features spray-painted rats in various guises relating to the pandemic
ADVERTISEMENTBanksy has once again used the London Tube as his canvas, this time creating an artwork that centres around the coronavirus pandemic.
A video appeared on the revered artist's Instagram account that shows a person, assumed to be him, dressed in the same uniform as the cleaners who have been drafted in to disinfect the underground during the COVID-19 crisis.
The individual ushers away passengers as he spray-paints rats in various guises relating to the pandemic on the walls of the carriages using a stencil.
The work is called "If you don't mask - you don't get" — wearing a face covering is obligatory on transport in London.
Transport for London (TfL), which runs the Tube, later said the artwork was removed “due to our strict anti-graffiti policy”, but it welcomed Banksy recreating his message “in a suitable location”.
“We appreciate the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings, which the vast majority of customers on our transport network are doing,” said a spokesperson for TfL.
The rats used in the new artwork are similar to those featured in a painting that Banksy shared in April when lockdown measures were in full force in the UK with the caption: "My wife hates it when I work from home."
In his previous works, the artist has painted rats and monkeys on the Underground's train carriages.
Banksy left his signature in the train with a message for Londoners: "I get locked down, but I get up again," which references Chumbawamba's hit song Tubthumping from 1997.