New Banksy artwork goes up in Liverpool city centre

Liverpool and Banksy go way back. During the 2004 Biennial the street artist – then a prominent cult figure on the art scene, but in no way a multimillion pound brand – put up several pieces around the city, most notoriously the ‘Duke Street Rat’, on the derelict Whitehouse pub at the corner of Duke Street and Berry Street. The Rat’s become an iconic figure in the city – just as recognisable and quirkily beloved as something like the Anglican Cathedral – and art lovers regularly make the pilgrimage to see it up close.

Since then, Banksy’s become a worldwide phenomenon. His pieces regularly go for ridiculous sums at snooty auction houses, megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are avid collectors, and he’s even made his own movie (‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’). But he continues to go back to street art, having created several brand new pieces across London, and this past week a new artwork has turned up in Liverpool. And it’s great.

Sprayed on the side of a building, next to a car park off Tithebarn Street, it takes the form of a biplane, its trail leaving a huge, joyful heart shape. The stencilled art might not be as political or brutally satirical as some of Banksy’s other stuff, but it’s no less wonderful, and we’re ridiculously chuffed he’s decided to revisit Liverpool again. Feel the love.

Banksy Biplane
Rumford Street, between Tithebarn and Water Street, Liverpool

Images via Unurth