World-famous artist Banksy may have painted a piece of his hallmark artwork on a Burnham-On-Sea garden wall and at a town centre pub on Sunday.
The black-coloured artwork, which appears on the wall of a seafront garden, features the writing “Art thieves stole my art” alongside an icon of some scissors, a hatched rectangle with Banksy’s signature, and an animal holding a pencil.
A second version of the same artwork was also left at The Railway pub in Burnham High Street, as reported here.
The seafront flat’s owner, Ann Davies, pictured, is the mother of Becky Lyons who organised last month’s successful Spray Jam street art festival in Burnham.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, Ann said: “I went out at 2pm for a couple of hours and Becky sent me a message saying ‘sorry mum!’ She said someone would paint something nice for me because I’d picked up a few of the artists during Spray Jam from the station and did a bit of running around.”
“She said one of the lads would paint something nice on my wall – I thought it would be an umbrella, some flowers or a girl or something. I said nothing ‘too rude or anything!’ She should ‘no, it would be very tasteful’ and when I came back at around 6pm, this is what I saw!”
“It’s lovely – really nice. It is a bit of fun. People as they go by have been doing double-takes and then coming back to take a second look.”
Becky Lyons, who organised Burnham’s recent Spray Jam festival, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I honestly don’t know if this is a genuine Banksy or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is. It’s wonderful – it’s very, very exciting.”
“One reason it could be genuine is that my mum lives at the flat and she helped several artists during the recent Spray Jam festival. One artist called SPO76, who created the seaside artwork on the side of TA8s bar in Pier Street later had his artwork removed. My mum drove him to the railway station and she looked after him during the festival – and we understand he’s friends with Banksy.”
“We know that Banksy loves helping community projects like our festival, so it is possible this is why it’s appeared.”
Becky, who teaches at a local school, added: “Another reason Banksy could have done this is that I tried to take a group of students to Dismaland in Weston on an official trip last year but unfortunately we couldn’t get tickets to go inside. This could be his way of making up for that – and helping us.”
The artwork has been left just a few doors down from Burnham-On-Sea’s live seafront webcam so visitors to the artwork will be seen through the day.
Meanwhile, a second Banksy and several other street art displays have appeared at The Railway pub in Burnham over the weekend, as reported here.
There had been numerous rumours circulating locally during recent weeks that Banksy may create some artwork in Burnham with several venues mentioned.
Town Centre Manager Bev Milner Simonds added: “Spray Jam caused a stir in the town and further afield. I understand that the organiser is a friend of the artist who uses the moniker “Banksy” – it is nice edition to the collection of artworks around the town. Turner came and painted the bay in 1800 and we are starting to fill the town with art and artists. But, you don’t have to be an internationally famous artist to enjoy a day out by the sea – everyone is welcome.”
