Banksy reveals lighthouse artwork in hidden location
The mysterious artist posted an image of a black and white lighthouse with the words 'I want to be what you see in me' on Instagram on Thursday.
The location of the piece has not yet been confirmed, but one of the photographs posted by the artist depicted two elderly people walking dogs in what could be a tunnel or underpass.
Another picture showed a blurred figure on a scooter and nearby graffiti bore the name 'Yaze' – a tag used by the Canadian street artist Marco The Polo – who has previously acknowledged Banksy as an influence on his work.
The origin of the phrase 'I want to be what you see in me' remains unclear, but is found in the song Softly by the American country group Lonestar. No connection has been confirmed.
There has been online speculation that the mural may be located in Marseille, a city known for its street art and the work of French artist Invader.
The new work follows a series of pieces unveiled by Banksy last year in London, many of which featured animal motifs.
These included a rhinoceros seemingly mounting a Nissan Micra, two elephant silhouettes touching trunks, and three monkeys depicted swinging from a bridge.
More recently, Banksy has posted an image of a gorilla appearing to lift the shutter at London Zoo, as well as a depiction of the Madonna and child marked by what appears to be a bullet hole.
Last August, a fresh Banksy artwork was taken down by hired contractors, hours after it was unveiled in north-west London.
In his sixth design to be revealed in the capital within days, the street artist posted a photo of a silhouette of a cat on an empty, distressed billboard on Instagram without any caption.
The billboard, which showed the cat with its arms stretched forward and back arched, was on Edgware Road in Cricklewood, north-west London.
However, contractors were asked to remove the artwork because of safety concerns.
Around the same time, a new piece of art by Banksy in London was stolen within an hour of being revealed.
The stencil of a howling wolf on a satellite dish was spray-painted in Rye Lane, Peckham.
Photographs showed a group of masked men climbing up, grabbing the dish and carrying it away.
Banksy's identity has never been confirmed and the artist continues to share work sporadically via social media. Each new piece typically prompts widespread speculation regarding its meaning and location, and is often subject to extensive commentary from both art institutions and the public.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Watch: Huge fire engulfs main stage at Tomorrowland
A huge black smoke cloud billowed from a fire at the Tomorrowland music festival site in Belgium on Wednesday, 16 July. No concerts were underway, and no injuries were immediately reported. Footage showed flames and broad plumes of grey and black smoke consuming the main stage of the venue in the town of Boom. Tomorrowland, which draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe to its festivals and events, was scheduled to start Friday. Festival organisers said: "Our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged. "DreamVille (campsite) will open tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) as planned... All Global Journey activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned. We are focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend."
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
With this painting of the King, a robot squares up to our dull portrait artists
Six million years of human evolution, 50,000 years of artistic innovation, arguably the most technologically advanced tool humanity has ever created – and you've come up with this? Are you kidding me? I'm looking at Algorithm King, a new portrait of King Charles, painted by Ai-Da, the 'world's first ultra-realistic robot artist' – and what a wan effort it is. Yes, it has a look of the King, and those blue-green splodges signal his environmental concerns as clearly as if he were wearing a blue planet lapel badge, but it just feels so derivative. It's perfectly of a piece with so much contemporary portraiture, which requires there to be a 'likeness', but is then adorned with a few signature gestural, handwritten or calligraphic flourishes to make it appear 'alive'. Not awful, not ugly, certainly not shocking; just innocuous. Think of Graham Sutherland's 1954 portrait of Churchill, which the wartime PM hated so much that his private secretary took it to a secluded house and burnt it. No chance of a flamin' Ai-Da here, I'm afraid. This is too insipid to inspire strong emotions. Put it in the National Gallery alongside the portrait of King Richard II in the Wilton Diptych, with its weird, porcelain-doll-like features and Barbie-pink cheeks, and only one of them feels like science-fiction – the one that was painted 630 years ago. Ai-Da's makers apparently see her as a work of conceptual art in itself, in which case the merits of her portraits may be irrelevant. 'We haven't spent eye-watering amounts of time and money to make a very clever painter,' said her creator, Aidan Meller, in 2022. 'This project is an ethical project.' The ethical conundrum, he suggested, was not 'can robots make art?' but 'do we really want them to?' Yet that argument may already be moot: Ai-Da made history last November when a painting by the robot sold at Sotheby's for almost $1.1m (£837,000). Her technique is 'a fusion of robotic precision and algorithmic interpretation'. With a sitter, 'she uses cameras in her eyes to perceive her subject, then processes visual data through AI models to generate a series of decisions about form and tone. Her robotic arm then translates these decisions into brushstrokes.' But here, with the King not physically present, Ai-Da was shown multiple images of Charles. She did a number of preliminary sketches and preparatory paintings, then selected one image to focus on for the portrait, using AI to decide on texture and abstraction, before adding marks and brush strokes on an enlarged version of her original painting, according to Meller. She's something of a sensation. Ai-Da was devised in Oxford, built in Cornwall by Engineered Arts, and programmed internationally. She has given a Ted Talk, collaborated with the film director Baz Luhrmann and made a speech at the Venice Biennale. As for her artistic training, presumably her makers have kept her away from the section of the library where the Francis Bacons are held. Obviously I need to be careful what I say. My own interactions with AI suggest that it is champing at the bit to impose global AI government on us all. At the present dizzying rate of progress, that should happen round about August 2029, so I don't want to leave too obvious a trail of anti-AI commentary before then. But honestly, Ai-Da, I'm not seeing much evidence of artistic talent. When I look at Algorithm King, that hated government ad campaign from Covid days keeps floating into my mind. 'Ai-Da's next job could be in cyber (she just doesn't know it yet). Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Top female pilot to take to the skies at Clacton Airshow
One of the world's top female pilots is to make her first appearance at the Clacton Airshow this French aerobatic champion Mélanie Astles, 43, was the first woman to compete in the Red Bull air race and will debut in the skies over Essex on 21 will be joining a programme featuring the RAF Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and the returning twilight Astles' friends and family in Europe will be able to watch her flight from across the Channel, as the event will be live-streamed for the first time, which the pilot said "aligns perfectly with my vision of making aviation accessible to the greatest number". "Participating in the Clacton Airshow represents an extraordinary opportunity to be part of a revolution in aeronautical event presentation," she said."Clacton's seafront offers a magnificent setting for aerial demonstrations, and I'm enthusiastic about contributing to this pioneering event." Ms Astles was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, but moved to France when she was three years worked in petrol stations after leaving school at the age of 18 to fund her flying lessons, and earned her private pilot's licence by the time she was will take to the skies in her Extra 330SC, a high-performance, single-seat aerobatic aircraft powered by a Lycoming AEIO-580 engine. The Clacton Airshow is an annual event organised by Tendring District Ivan Henderson, deputy leader of the district council and cabinet member for economic growth, regeneration and tourism, said he was enthused by the airshow's newest addition."Mélanie Astles is an exceptional pilot whose skill and passion for aviation have earned her international acclaim," he said."From championship titles to breaking barriers in the Red Bull Air Race, her achievements speak for themselves."We're absolutely delighted to welcome her to Clacton for what promises to be a truly unforgettable debut." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
