Banksy Gives North London Cherry Tree Graffiti Foliage

Banksy b. 1974, United Kingdom Follow +

A new work by Banksy appeared on Hornsey Road in Finsbury Park on Sunday.

The artist splashed mint green paint behind a cherry tree with its branches trimmed back to stumps. A stencil of a person with a spray gun draws attention to the deliberateness of the deception, creating fake foliage to beautify an ugly subject.

The work is vaguely environmentalist, an indictment on mendacity and quick fixes, and, given its timing and colouring, an oblique celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day.

The green matches that used on local council signs, James Peak told the BBC. Peak is the creator of the BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story.

“When you step back it looks like the tree is bursting to life, but in a noticeably fake and synthetic way,’ Peak said.

For all its merits, some viewers were unimpressed.

The first comment underneath Banksy’s Instagram post sharing the work at time of writing was ‘Banksy art will be irrelevant if it doesn’t address the genocide in Gaza.’

It had far fewer likes than the second comment—‘wake up babe new banksy just dropped’— but far more replies, many of which were dismissive of the criticism.

‘he did actually 🙄’, wrote one Instagram user.

Banksy famously drew attention to the plight of Palestinians by creating stencils on the tall concrete walls Israel erected to control their movements. In 2017, he also established The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which looks out on a wall dividing Israel from the West Bank. Banksy says it has ‘the worst view of any hotel in the world’.

On 12 October 2023, The Walled Off wrote on their website that they were closing ‘for the time being’ due to ‘major developments in the region’. —[O]

Main image: Courtesy Banksy's Instagram.