Anger after latest Banksy vandalised with white paint overnight

People have questioned whether Banksy himself is a vandal or an artist

Neighbours have spoken of their frustration after vandals struck in the night splashing Banksy’s latest tree mural with two huge licks of white paint.

The elusive artist’s mural drew crowds on Monday, with most struck by the ecological message and visual allusion of green leaves returned to a severely cropped cherry tree on Hornsey Road, north London.

But on Tuesday night other graffiti artists silently clambered over the hastily erected Islington Council fences to write their tag in the same green as Banksy, and throw white paint over the leaves.

Banksy’s latest piece has been painted over (Barney Davis)

The artwork in the Finsbury Park neighbourhood covers the wall of a four-story building and shows a small figure holding a pressure hose beside a large cherry tree.

Green paint has been sprayed across the wall, replicating the absent leaves of the tree, which has been severely cropped.

Amy, who lives with a joining wall to the graffiti, posted on X: “Someone’s vandalised the Banksy overnight. Gutted. Why can’t people let a community be happy without trying to ruin it.”

Asked if she heard any suspicious activity on Tuesday night, she said: “Nope nothing - alas I didn’t hear anything when he painted it originally.”

Lewis Cowell, 51, has been caretaker of the flats for ten years (Barney Davis)

Lewis Cowell, 51, a caretaker of the flats for ten years told The Independent: “The white paint that is just vandalism but then some would say Bansky is a vandal so it’s just a certain point of view.

“Someone else has been there and done a tag as well, in the same green.

“You will never catch them. It’s like when Banksy put it up - nobody saw anything.

“The other graffiti artists come over and have a bee in their bonnet and try to get one over him.”

He added the council would try to remove the extra graffiti whilst protecting the Banksy.

Artists left their tags nearby (Barney Davis)

He said council workers purposely cut back the 50-year-old cherry tree afflicted with fungus to allow it to bloom.

“With a bit of luck we will have some foliage on the tree this year. It used to drape right over the street but it got sick.

“It’s budding you can see it.”

Amanda Diment (Barney Davis)

A neighbour Amanda Diment, 61, said: “It was only a matter of time, I’m just happy nobody has scrawled the C-word over it.

“The white paint looks like it’s part of it to be honest it almost adds another layer. I used to cycle past that cherry tree every day and never looked twice.

“It’s nice this forgotten area of Islington is getting some publicity too.”

Mark Cornwell said it was not Banksy’s best work (Barney Davis)

Local artist Mark Cornwell, 64, said: “Banksy’s work is normally very intelligent, subliminal almost. But this is too overbearing and too easy. I think he is almost losing it. His work used to be small with a smart comment.

“I think he knows it won’t be permanent that wall has had it. It’s blown out. He will have known that. It’s not overrated it’s overblown. There is nothing cheeky, no cheeky gem for you to think about.

“He must have sprayed it on the run-down wall in the rain and it’s dripped down.”

On the vandalism, he added: “I thought the white paint was part of it, to be honest. I don’t know what that means I don’t get that.”

A council worker attempts to remove the tags (Barney Davis)

Banksy claimed the work by posting before and after photos of the location on his official Instagram account.

The new attraction drew a stream of onlookers who took photos and snapped selfies. Many discerned an environmental message in the vibrant green artwork, which appeared on Sunday — St Patrick’s Day.

“The tree looks very sad without branches and without greenery,” said Pura Lawler, on her way to a gym class. She felt Banksy was saying something about “destroying the forests, destroying the greenery.”

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who represents the area in Parliament, said the work “makes people stop and think, ‘Hang on. We live in one world. We live in one environment. It is vulnerable and on the cusp of serious damage being done to it.’”

“Environmental politics is about densely populated urban areas like this, just as much as it is about farmland and woodland and hedges,” he added.

Banksy, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.