Banksy has confirmed that a huge new statue which mysteriously appeared in central London is his work.
The sculpture depicts a suited man on a plinth with one leg striding off it, appearing to be blindly stepping off the platform without knowing it, thanks to a flag enveloping his face.
The structure was installed in the early hours of Wednesday, before the street artist shared a video of it on his Instagram on Thursday afternoon.
His video showed its installation under the cover of darkness using heavy machinery.
Commentators on Banksy’s Instagram site speculated the work was about ‘blind patriotism’, and walking directly into danger.
They also questioned how he had managed to pull off such a stunt in such a busy area of central London.
It is located along Pall Mall, near the Athenaeum Club and the Crimean War Memorial.
The 25-foot work is also positioned directly in front of a golden Athena statue and near to statues of Edward VII, Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War Memorial.
A new statue in central London that sparked speculation this week has been confirmed as a Banksy
The statue was also positioned directly in front of a golden Athena statue along the Pall Mall
Commuters on Wednesday morning stopped by to take photographs, as the word spread that the famous insignia at the bottom of the figure could be Banksy’s.
In a brief statement, a spokesperson for Banksy said: ‘The artist revealed the unsolicited monument at some point in the early hours of yesterday.
‘It is positioned on a traffic island in Pall Mall where Banksy said “there was a bit of a gap”.’
The artist’s video also featured an anonymous passerby criticising the artwork.
‘I don’t like it. That’s a nice statue up there – I prefer that,’ the man says as he points to another nearby statue.
None of Banksy’s murals from recent years, however, have been signed.
His last artwork, a mural on the side of a skyscraper also in central London, depicting a child lying next to another person who is pointing up to the building and sky above, was not signed.
The statue appeared on December 22 last year beneath the Centre Point building near Tottenham Court Road, and showed the child in a beanie hat and Wellingtons lying on the floor next to another person in a bobble hat.
The same artwork also appeared on the side of a building a few miles away in Queen’s Mews in Bayswater.
In September, a Banksy mural showing a protester on the floor holding a blood-spattered placard while a judge hit him with a gavel appeared on the front of the Royal Courts of Justice building.
It was swiftly covered up by officials, with security guards seen patrolling in front of a screen concealing the artwork.
The artwork followed almost 900 people being arrested in central London at a demonstration supporting banned group Palestine Action, in what was thought to be Britain’s biggest ever mass arrest.
Commuters and passersby stopped to admire the statue, which appeared in the early hours of Wednesday morning
Banksy’s famous signature was inscribed at the bottom of the sculpture – but the artist has not yet confirmed whether he is behind this latest piece of political art
One of Banksy’s most striking moments was in 2003 when he disguised himself as a pensioner and installed a piece in a vacant spot in the Tate Britain in London.
His artwork Girl With Balloon self-destructed in a Sotheby’s London saleroom when descending into a shredder in 2018.
Banksy, who began his iconic street art more than 25 years ago, has sold his works for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
His identity has been shrouded in secrecy until The Mail on Sunday launched an investigation in 2008, naming Robin Gunningham as the Bristol artist. His identity nevertheless remains unconfirmed.