The news was confirmed in a video posted on the street artist’s Instagram in which he spoofs an art instruction video.
Banksy has confirmed a painting of an inmate escaping from a former jail that once housed playwright Oscar Wilde is his work.
The elusive street artist confirmed the artwork was his via a video posted to his Instagram account on Thursday in which he spoofs popular US TV art instructor Bob Ross.
After Ross introduces one of his shows, the rest of the video is Banksy, but with Ross’s narration, making it appear as if the two are meant to go together.
The artwork shows an inmate escaping using a knotted spool of paper from a typewriter.Advertisement
The jail, which closed to prisoners in 2013, is where Oscar Wilde served two years’ hard labour for “gross indecency”.
Wilde was sent to the jail in 1895 following a retrial and later wrote his final published work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, highlighting the need for reform of inhumane conditions.
