Well over the last week or two something quite interesting in the realm of Street Art has occured, namely the return of a piece of Street Art that was stolen some eleven years ago, albeit with some minor alterations in the process. The Street Art in question is Banksy’s ‘The Drinker’, a sculpture created as a play on Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’, perhaps the most famous scultpure in Modern Art. As in Rodin’s original inspiration statue Banksy’s subject is depicted in a contemplative pose, however with the addition of traffic cone on his head.

Originally placed up in a Shaftesbury Avenue in a little square adjacent the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2004, the statues lifespan was cut short when it was stolen by artist AK47, following a feud he had with Banksy over an unsigned print he had purchased. In response to Banksy’s refusal to sign said print AK47 decided to take revenge by stealing ‘The Drinker’ which was subject to an illegal placing in the first place, resulting in no one reporting the crime, and unsuccessfully holding it ransom.

However after some eleven years AK47 has decided to return it to the very same spot it was originally deposited, however not without some minor additions. These result in the piece being transformed into ‘The Stinker’ through the addition of a toilet seat and a flush. It is  certainly not the normal story we get to here about on London’s Street Art scene, but is certainly an interesting story and also great to see that such a work has been returned to its original spot after so long and mostly intact. That said we don’t doubt some opportunistic people may take the chance to ‘reclaim’ a statue that must be worth a small fortune, so if you are London bound be sure to head along and check it out just in case it’s not there for long.

This great work and story was brought to our attention by the fantastic work of Inspiring City and having learned of the story and return of the work we couldn’t resist the chance to head along and see it for ourselves. Check out the post which brought this our attention here at www.inspiringcity.com