Banksy’s tree mural has been defaced after just three days – with vandals hurling white paint across the new north London artwork before a local authority erected a metal security fence.
The damage was revealed this morning after the street artist earlier confirmed he was behind a mural which appeared overnight on the side of a block in Islington.
The artwork in Finsbury Park shows green paint behind a bare tree to resemble foliage, with a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose depicted next to it.
Locals said they felt ‘proud and delighted’ at the thought of the anonymous artist choosing their street for his latest mural when it emerged- though there were concerns their rents could now ‘skyrocket’.
BBC London journalist Anna O’Neill posted this morning on X, formerly Twitter, pictures of the vandalism to the artwork as well as a newly-installed protective fence.
The new Banksy artwork in north London has been defaced just three days after appearing
A protective fence has been erected in front of the painting in Finsbury Park, north London
The Banksy artwork was revealed this week on the side of a building in Hornsey Road
She wrote: ‘This is why we can’t have nice things. #Banksy mural defaced after just 3 days.’
She followed up with an image of a fence which has now been added at the site in Hornsey Road, Finsbury Park.
Trainee clinical psychologist Amy, who lives in the apartment block, also tweeted a picture of the damage.
She wrote: ‘Someone’s vandalised the Banksy overnight. Gutted. Why can’t people let a community be happy without trying to ruin it?’
MailOnline asked Islington Council yesterday whether any security measures for the installation were likely, but was told there were no planned updates.
Banksy fan and photographer Matt Adamiak, 42, took pictures of the artwork this morning.
Matt, from Southampton, said: ‘I’ve always been a Banksy fan so when I saw he’d been out and about I headed up the motorway this morning to have a look.
‘I got there at 6am this morning as it was getting light, there was hardly anyone around – then I noticed someone had thrown white paint or something over it.
‘It’s massively noticeable in person – looking at the way it’s been thrown it looks like someone’s climbed over the fence to throw it. It’s difficult to tell how they’ve done it but they’ve definitely ruined it.
‘It’s all been cordoned off so people can’t get in there, but it looks like someone had climbed over – maybe it was someone throwing paint over it to ruin it just because they can, it’s difficult to say.’
Islington Council said on Tuesday: ‘Culture is a powerful way to tell meaningful stories and we welcome this artwork in Islington, a borough that celebrates creativity.
‘This fantastic piece from Banksy has sparked a real buzz across Islington and beyond, and we very much want the artwork to stay for people to enjoy. We want to find more ways that we can tell important stories through art and culture.’
MailOnline has approached the authority for comment on the latest developments.
The Banksy painting was put up behind a tree which has been decaying for years
Passers-by have flocked to see the daubing – and were also today looking at the vandal damage
The artwork shows a splattering of green which has been painted behind a bare tree to look like foliage, with a stencil of a person holding what appears to be a pressure hose next to it
The bare wall pictured one year ago on March 2023 showing no greenery
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ‘delighted’ to see the artwork in his Islington North constituency
Banksy, who has 12.3million Instagram followers, confirms art is his by posting a picture – and provided this for the Finsbury Park painting at 11.13am on Monday.
Prior to the official announcement, the artwork had already been gathering fans at the site on Hornsey Road in north London.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ‘delighted’ to see the artwork in his Islington North constituency.
The MP, now sitting in Parliament as an independent, said: ‘Banksy’s come to Finsbury Park with a bit of greenery in a place that needs a bit more greenery. We’re the most densely populated constituency in the country and I’m just delighted.
‘It gives the idea that we could do with much more greenery everywhere and I think that’s a really nice message.’
Apartment block resident Amy earlier told MailOnline that her housemates and their boyfriends were none the wiser when the green paint was splattered.
She said: ‘Our landlord has the whole building and we had a bit of banter with him about it last night and he said, “Don’t worry, it’s fine”.
‘I think it’s great for community. This road is a bit of a weird in-between area between Archway and Finsbury Park. It’s like it’s been fun to be part of our building and it’s so nice to see how many people are here.’
Estate agent Alex Georgiou, who bought the property in 2012 for £400,000 according to land registry records, looked to allay neighbours’ fears by claiming he wouldn’t be charging more off the back of the area’s sudden fame.
However, he welcomed interest from potential buyers, as he bullishly told MailOnline: ‘You know what, if somebody offered me millions and they can have the building and take the flats with it. Feel free.’
It is understood that the cherry tree in front of the artwork is about 40 to 50 years old and is in declining health.
The council’s tree service had been maintaining it for some time to help prolong its lifespan and is attempting to keep the decaying tree alive.
Banksy confirmed the painting was his work with a post on Instagram on Monday morning
The artwork has already been gathering Banksy fans to the location on Hornsey Road in north London as they inspect it to see if it could be the real thing
Banksy’s eye for detail was on display as the colour of the paint matches the one used for street signs by Islington Council
The last time Banksy’s art was revealed in London, it ended in scandal.
Two men were arrested and bailed for allegedly using bolt cutters to steal the artwork which pictured a stop sign featuring three military drones.
Once Banksy announced on social media the artwork belonged to him in an Instagram post shortly after midday on December 23, two men allegedly appeared at the scene and cut down the artwork before running off.
Police have yet to recover the piece of art, but one gallery owner told the BBC at the time it could be worth up to £500,000.
A list of Banksy’s works
His identity remains cloaked in mystery, his work the subject of endless speculation and his art a major tourist attraction.
Since the 1990s Banksy has dominated the street graffiti with his well known satirical installations of humorous images usually paired with anti-war or anti-capitalist slogans.
The so called ‘Banksy effect’ has seen people buy up his work for small fortunes. His Love Is in the Bin was sold in London in 2021 for a staggering £18.6million – a record for one of his pieces.
But his art has also been the target of several council campaigns to clean up graffiti and paint over the murals, sparking outrage from his many fans.
The elusive artist confirmed his latest work on Monday morning, a tree mural which appeared overnight in Finsbury Park, north London.
Banksy confirmed on Monday morning that a tree mural which appeared overnight in Finsbury Park was his own
The elusive artist previously unveiled a piece depicting three aircraft on a stop sign in Peckham, south east London
Banksy’s famous mural ‘Rage, The Flower Thrower (Love Is In The Air)’ which is painted on a car wash in a suburb of Bethlehem
Another of Banksy’s most famous artworks is the Girl With Balloon (2004)
Appache Attack helicopters with pink bows on them on the outside wall of an office building in Holywell Row, Shoreditch, east London, in 2006. Banksy had the work covered over in black paint
Banksy’s works often carry political messages. This anti-Brexit mural appeared on the side of a building in Dover, Kent, in May 2017
Banksy’s Sweep It Under the Carpet mural in Chalk Farm, London shows a maid sweeping dust under a sheet behind which is a brick wall
Prints of three of Banksy’s works are seen above at Sotheby’s in February 2022. Centre is Kissing Coppers, next to Girl with Balloon and ‘Vandalised Oils (Choppers)’
A Banksy work from the Bristol Underground Scene entitled Bomb Hugger and footed by his signature
‘Mobile Lovers’, depicting a couple seemingly in love while glued to their phones, appeared at the Broad Plain Boys’ Club in 2014
Naked Man was sprayed on the wall of a sexual health clinic on Park Street, Bristol
This Banksy seagull mural on the wall of a house in Lowestoft, Suffolk was removed last April
This mural called Morning Is Broken shows a young boy with a cat opening curtains made of corrugated iron
One of Banksy’s artworks in Ukraine. Simply reading ‘Borodyanka Ukraine’ after the area located north west of capital Kiev following Russia’s invasion in 2022
Season’s Greetings conveyed a message about the impact of pollution on communities and appeared on the outside of a steelworker’s garage in Port Talbot in 2018
KISSING COPPERS: This mural, which was first unveiled outside the Prince Albert Pub
AACHOO!: This work depicts a woman sneezing so hard that she loses her false teeth
GOD BLESS BIRMINGHAM: An artwork depicting two reindeer pulling along a man named Ryan on a bench in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter
ART BUFF: This mural portraying a woman wearing headphones while staring at a plinth. It appeared in Folkestone in 2014
A Banksy artwork depicting Cosette from Victor Hugo’s novel and later hit musical Les Miserables. She is shown with tears in her eyes as gas moves towards her
HULA HOOPING GIRL: A mural in Rothesay avenue, Nottingham depicting a young girl playing with a tyre painted on a wall next to an abandoned bicycle missing a wheel