As thousands of visitors descend on Venice for the latest biennale, a lonely life-jacket wearing child can be seen holding a flare aloft. The stencil certainly has all the hallmarks of a ‘Banksy’ but nothing has yet been confirmed. In fact, if you scour the pages of Google very little is mentioned about this piece… for now.
The latest Venice art biennale has come with a certain amount of criticism with pieces such as Christoph Buchel’s ‘boat’ coming under fire… and for good reason. Buchel has placed an actual boat in Venice. The fishing boat in question had sank in April 2015 off the Libyan coast killing hundreds of desperate migrants trying to start a new life away from war. As many visitors take selfies along side the now raised coffin the question of ‘is this really art’ should be asked. Or is this just a distasteful and disrespectable stunt in the name of art?
So, it seems quite apt that this new unconfirmed Banksy should appear. Clearly the child is an immigrant. They are trying to be found as the bright pink plumes of smoke swirls along the wall. Whether it’s a Banksy or not, we love it. It’s thought provoking and provocative and yet surprisingly it appears to have been completely missed by most visitors.
This latest piece is no exception and the location is perfect. The Venice biennale attracts art lovers from all over the world and of course the world media.
Another work by Banksy (this one was confirmed) recently appeared in Marble Arch in London supporting the Extinction Rebellion protests that took place. This piece depicted a young child with the words ‘From this moment despair ends and tactics begin’.
If this Venice piece does become a confirmed Banksy, let’s just see how long it stays there for. As prices for Banksy’s work have risen at a meteoric rate many of the street works disappear.
In the meantime we will just have to wait and see if it does become confirmed.
