He may be a superstar of British art and adored by American celebrities, but one place where Banksy doesn’t appear to be appreciated is down under.
At least not by one Melbourne building firm who decided to drill a hole through one of his artworks in order to install a bathroom pipe.
Resident Tina McKenzie had lived above Banksy’s $50,000 'parachuting rat' for almost a decade when she suddenly realised it had been destroyed to make way for some plumbing.
"Anybody that understands street art and recognises it as more than just vandalism understands that it is something we need to preserve,” she told Network Ten.
ITV reports that this latest incident is the third time a Banksy has been destroyed in Melbourne in 2 years, after a different piece was painted over during a council clean-up in 2010.
Yesterday a new Bansky was discovered in London, depicting a child labourer making some Jubilee bunting.
It’s being interpreted as an anti-capitalist statement about the forthcoming Jubilee, and was painted on the side of a branch of Poundland.
It’s unsure whether Poundland are planning any building work of their own at this stage.
Here's some of Banksy's greatest hits: