{"id":145651,"date":"2025-05-31T02:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T02:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145651\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T02:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T02:17:14","slug":"hunt-for-banksys-lighthouse-artwork-leads-to-south-of-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145651\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt for Banksy’s lighthouse artwork leads to south of France"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARSEILLE, France (AP) \u2014 Images of an enigmatic new work by elusive street artist Banksy<\/a> set off debate about its meaning \u2014 and a hunt for its location that ended Friday in the south of France.<\/p>\n

It started with photos on the artist\u2019s Instagram site showing a stenciled lighthouse on a wall and the words \u201cI want to be what you saw in me.\u201d The stenciled lighthouse gives the illusion of being the shadow of a bollard standing near the wall.<\/p>\n

A photo posted Thursday on Instagram, where Banksy usually posts new works, shows a couple walking two dogs past the artwork.<\/p>\n

\"AA man poses by an artwork by street artist Banksy, Friday, May 30, 2025 in Marseille, southern France. (AP Photo\/Bishr Eltoni)<\/p>\n

Banksy, who has left his mark on buildings from London to Los Angeles to Ukraine to the West Bank, did not disclose the work\u2019s location. After online speculation suggested it could be in Marseille, southern France, The Associated Press tracked it down in a street near the city\u2019s port.<\/p>\n

Some speculated the quote could be inspired by \u201cSoftly,\u201d a song by Tennessee-based country band Lonestar, which features the lyric: \u201cI want to be what you see in me. I want to love you the way that you love me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA man poses by an artwork by street artist Banksy, Friday, May 30, 2025 in Marseille, southern France. (AP Photo\/Bishr Eltoni)<\/p>\n

Banksy, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world\u2019s best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two male police officers kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words, \u201cLaugh now, but one day I\u2019ll be in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work has sold for millions of dollars<\/a> at auction, and past murals on outdoor sites have often been stolen or removed by building owners soon after going up. In December 2023, after Banksy stenciled military drones on a stop sign in south London, a man was photographed taking down the sign with bolt cutters<\/a>. Police later arrested two men on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.<\/p>\n

In March 2024, an environmentally themed work<\/a> on a wall beside a tree in north London was splashed with paint, covered with plastic sheeting and fenced off<\/a> within days of being created.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: May 30, 2025 at 12:32 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARSEILLE, France (AP) \u2014 Images of an enigmatic new work by elusive street artist Banksy set off debate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[4021,4080,77,2000,299,36,5775,6417],"class_list":{"0":"post-145651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-network","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114600047074963024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}