Reputation

I feel for creative people who shun the limelight, who try and keep their private lives that way, who don't court fame but prefer to let their works speak for themselves. I suppose it's an attitude that accords with my own preference. Such individuals often acquire a  reputation  for being reserved, elusive, even reclusive characters.

Names that spring to mind include the authors J. D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon, film-makers Stanley Kubrick and Yorgos Lanthimos, musicians Van Morrison and Keaton Henson, painters Edward Munch and Georgia O'Keefe...and Banksy, who seems intent on remaining a complete enigma as his reputation grows, to the extent of never appearing in public and not even disclosing his real identity. 

The reasons I've zeroed in on Banksy are partly because he's topical with his series of nine animal-themed artworks appearing over consecutive days around London (supposedly in response to the recent unrest) and partly because my elder daughter works at London Zoo, which establishment found itself the last to be Banksy'd in the series, with an artwork spanning one of the three shuttered entrance gates to the Regent's Park zoo (below).

It is presumed that the Zoo authorities knew this was going to happen, maybe even gave tacit approval, because the entrance is under 24-hour cctv surveillance, Banksy's 'team' returned in the early hours to lacquer the artwork, and a briefing email went to all employees even before start of business. 

The immediate problem it gave London Zoo was one of security, for there have been attempts to deface or steal others of the nine murals. They covered the artwork with Perspex and put a cordon and a two-man guard on the gate, so that the thousands of people who turned up each day to photograph it - not just visitors to the Zoo - could do so from a safe distance.

The more challenging problem was that at one of the busiest times of the year, they couldn't open one of their three gates. They made the decision that they would have to remove and replace the Banksy'd shutter without damaging the artwork and this they did on Friday night. A new shutter is now in place, and all three gates are in use again. The original shutter is locked away for safe keeping while the Zoo decides where and how best to display it somewhere on site. There was talk that a non-Banksy replica of the mural would be applied to the new shutter, but I don't know if this was done, because of the possibility of some idiot trying to angle-grind it out!

Of course London Zoo (or the Zoological Society of London to give its full title) has been keen to use this publicity to re-affirm its own credentials as a leading animal conservation centre, countering any suggestion that the message on the mural was that wild animals should not be kept in captivity. (Many interpretations are possible.) ZSL is approaching its 200 year anniversary. It was founded in 1826 by Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir Humphry Davy as a centre for scientific research and London Zoo opened in Regents Park in 1828 as the world's first scientific zoo, dedicated to the understanding and preservation of wild animals and endangered species. Its international reputation as a leading charity in animal welfare, breeding and conservation is one it is justly proud of. 

My daughter's one criticism of London Zoo's Banksy is that the gorilla looks rather thin.  

I'll leave you with this poem by Blanksy... J

Thanks for reading, S ;-)