Mysterious new sculpture featuring Banksy’s signature appears in London, but is it genuine?
A mysterious new sculpture, which supposedly has been signed by Banksy, has appeared in central London.
The sculpture, which is located outside the Athenaeum Club on Waterloo Place, on April 29th. It features a man marching off a plinth, but he is unable to see due to his eyes being covered by a flag.
While the theme, which can be interpreted as a ridiculisation of nationalism, is similar to work that Banksy has previously done in the past, he has yet to claim the sculpture despite it featuring his signature.
Typically, whenever a new piece of work by him appears, Banksy takes to Instagram to confirm that it is genuinely by him. However, that has not been the case with this sculpture, which suggests it has nothing to do with him at all.
If it is an impersonator, the decision to scrawl ‘Banksy’ onto the sculpture was a genius approach to get more eyes on the work. It has since gone viral on social media and also attracted a crowd in central London.
Iain Martin shared an image of the sculpture on X on April 3rd and shared, “Overnight this ‘Banksy’ statue has appeared in London’s Waterloo Place (outside the Atheneum Club). A crowd has gathered. The authorities have placed barriers around it, presumably to prevent it being nicked.”
The sculpture would be Banksy’s first piece of 2026. He last claimed responsibility for a piece, which appeared on December 22nd, 2025, at Queen’s Mews in Bayswater, that showed two children lying down on the floor, wrapped up in winter jackets and bobble hats, stargazing while one of them points up towards the sky.
Notably, it only took a matter of hours for Banksy to confirm it was by him, and yet his silence still lingers regarding Waterloo Place.
Last month, a new report from Reuters claimed to have uncovered Banksy’s identity as Robin Gunningham thanks to a police report filed in New York in 2000, before the street artist had become world-famous.
Gunningham was previously named by the Daily Mail as allegedly being Banksy’s real identity in 2008, which was denied at the time by his manager.
In light of the report, Banksy’s lawyer Mark Stephens told Reuters that his client “does not accept that many of the details contained within your enquiry are correct”.
Since his identity was allegedly uncovered, there has been radio silence from Banksy himself, and this new sculpture would mark his first work after the claims were made.
