Thanks to InspiringCity (http://inspiringcity.com) for alerting me to this next piece when they featured it on their blog; I don't often visit Soho, so I doubt that I would have come across this statue otherwise. While I was in London on the Seven Noses of Soho tour on New Year's Day, I convinced the rest of the group to walk across the road to have a look with me. Everyone loves Banksy, so I hope no one minded the walk across the road to have a look.
The history behind the statue is that Banksy created it and placed it on this little 'square' off Shaftesbury Avenue about ten years ago. The statue is modelled after Rodin's "The Thinker", but it was changed to "The Drinker" and included the traffic cone on the head. I suppose this was a dig at the drunks in Soho and how drunk people can get excited about playing with street furniture, such as cones. That is how I've interpreted it anyway. Who hasn't seen a drunk person playing with a traffic cone?
A group known as AK47 'kidnapped' "The Drinker" and demanded a ransom for it, but Banksy never paid it. You can read more about "The Drinker" and its kidnap at The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/apr/02/art
Three weeks ago, AK47 brought it back to the same location with some alterations. The statue has been renamed "The Stinker" and a large toilet seat has been added. It appears that "The Drinker" is sitting on a toilet seat with the cone on its head. AK47 have added their tag in red and crossed out the "Dr" in "drinker" and added a "St" in red paint on the plinth.
The piece is located off Shaftesbury Avenue near Shaftesbury Theatre, and I suggest seeing it soon before it's taken again.
Banksy was in the news last summer for creating the Dismaland Bemusement Park, which I covered here.
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