With a little Oscar Wilde nod…
A new artwork has appeared in a pretty daring location in London, and naturally, the masses are assuming its Banksy himself, making his long awaited 2021 return. It makes sense, as it has all the trappings of a Banksy piece: an elusive stencil style, social commentary in spades, and most importantly, an absolute ridiculous location that only Banksy would attempt to paint.
The piece was found on the side of Reading prison, and is strongly believed to be a commentary on what is happening on social media platforms regarding freedom of speech. Others however have asserted that the piece is trying to shed light on the prison itself, particularly as it is the prison that once housed literary icon Oscar Wilde and inspired the 1897 book The Ballad of Reading. The prison however has been vacant for the last couple of years and was put up for sale by the government in 2019, with hopes of transforming it into a arts and culture centre.
The artwork sees a man climbing down the jail’s brick wall with tied together bed sheets (rapunzel style), with the sheets forming the paper in a typewriter. Speaking on the validity of the piece, Banksy expert Prof Paul Gough seems confident that it is definitely him, adding “at the moment it would take a good copier to get that right.”
Pretty exciting, check out the full piece below.
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