The newest Banksy is what looks like a child sticking its tongue out to catch snowflakes—until it’s revealed that the flakes are ashes from a dumpster fire on the next wall.
The latest mural—called Season’s Greetings—is on the side of a garage in Port Talbot, a rough industrial town in the south of Wales.
The mural has become something of a tourist attraction since it was revealed on Dec. 18, with 2,000 coming in a couple of days. There are also fears about how long it’s going to last.
The Banksy was put under 24-hour guard to protect it, with the local council adding traffic wardens to manage the flow of tourists. After they put a metal screen around the garage, they have now put a protective plastic screen over it. But a “drunk halfwit” has already tried to pull it down before he was chased off by a security guard, according to a local Facebook page.
In an added twist, the plastic screen and the security guards were partially paid for Michael Sheen, the actor from Frost/Nixon and other films who happens to be from the area.
“At first I didn’t really think much of it,” said Ian Lewis, the 55-year-old steelworker who owns the garage with the Banksy on it, who first heard about the mural on Facebook, according to Sky News. “It started off as fun, but now it’s gone to stress. It’s down to not sleeping, but now I’ve got the security there it’s taken that weight off me.”
If anyone fails to destroy the Banksy, there’s always a good chance that the artist will destroy it himself.