The city of Tokyo tries to verify if the design of a rat holding an umbrella, discovered near a train station, monorail, is the work of the mysterious street-british artist, Banksy. «We have noticed the presence of this paint in the aerosol» on a technical installation to the centre of the capital, told AFP a city official, Koji Sugiyama. «We believe that it is possible that it was made by Banksy», who is known for his famous rats who carry an umbrella or artist, violin player, rapper… But «we still don’t know if there is a expert artist in Japan» able to authenticate the graffiti, including the date of completion is not known, he admitted.
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The rat with umbrella hidden in the left corner of the installation technique. HANDOUT/AFP
photos posted on social networks to dates prior to 2018 may suggest that this design is already old, particularly as he appears to be erased by the time. «The security services had been aware of it for a long time, but they had evidently not made the link with Banksy,» said Mr. Sugiyama. It was not until December that the municipality has been alerted by residents. «There is in Tokyo a cartoon rat cute (which may be a work of Banksy. A gift for Tokyo?», wrote in a tweet Thursday, the governor of the capital of japan, Yuriko Koike, accompanying his text with a photo where she is squatting down next to the graffiti. The support on which it is located was removed on Wednesday night and carefully protected to avoid any damage, said Mr Sugiyama.
The identity of Banksy is a mystery well kept since its inception in the 1990s. Of him we know his nationality (british), his hometown (Bristol), his page in Instagram with 5 million subscribers and his website where he uploads his works, without any other comment. He has made his street art as a means of protest and plays with her recovery for commercial purposes, such as in October 2018, when he had premeditated the resounding destruction of its famous painting «Girl with a balloon», showing a little girl letting fly a red balloon in the shape of a heart.
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Just after having been sold for over a million euros at auction in London, the canvas was passed partially through the lower part of its frame, cut in thin slices, vertical, a stroke of brilliance that had caused the disorder in the circles of the item