​New Banksy artwork in London stolen within hours of being unveiled

A new Banksy artwork has been stolen from Peckham, London, just hours after it was first unveiled.

The artwork - which features a silhouette of a wolf howling at the moon painted on a satellite dish above a shop on Rye Lane - appears to have been taken by masked men yesterday, August 8.

Banksy’s press team told the BBC that they “believed” the artwork had been stolen, although the Metropolitan Police confirmed that no arrests have been made as of yet.

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It marked the fourth Banksy artwork to appear in London in just a matter of days. Other pieces feature silhouettes of animals painted on the side of buildings and train bridges across the city.

The latest artwork popped up on Rye Lane in Peckham yesterday, August 8, and was confirmed in a post on his official Instagram page, sharing photos of the painting in both the day and night.

In a video shared by the BBC, a group of men wearing balaclavas and masks appear to remove the satellite dish from the roof using ladders before running away with it.

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In December last year, another Banksy artwork was stolen after it first appeared in Peckham. The piece, thought to be worth up to £500,000, was taken just an hour after it was confirmed genuine.

Two men thought to have been in connection with the theft were re-bailed in February 2024, one in his 20s and another in his 40s. Police are still searching for the missing artwork.

Banksy’s artwork has a long history of being stolen, from early instances in 2007 when a piece was taken from the side of a building in London and later auctioned off, to a more recent case in 2020 when a mural in Bristol was taken just hours after it appeared.

[Via the BBC]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter