As a general rule, anyone walking around London will somewhere see the work of a street artist as it adorns a house or a  wall. Importantly, whether the picture has been created with care or has been hurriedly scribbled, like the signatures (tags) found along railway tracks, it is part of a long tradition. Wall images were painted over two thousand years ago in Italy and Greece, and 30,000 years earlier appeared as pictures of animals and human beings – in whole or in part – that adorned the cave walls of our ancestors. It seems that, decorating large surfaces has been one of humankind’s compulsions for generations. Indeed, while Aristotle said that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’, he could also have noted that ‘homo sapiens abhors a blank wall’!

Whenever they are made, the quality of the paintings and their appeal vary enormously and this blog is about works by two very different contemporary street artists both of whom recently painted pictures near our home in West London.  While, for me, one work – ‘the Mountain Goat’, is a beguiling delight (see first illustration) and, although unsigned it is almost certainly created by the anonymous and mysterious ‘Banksy’. By contrast, the other work – ‘King Charles III’ (see  second illustration) which is by an artists who signs himself ‘Paul Don Smith’, offers me nothing more than a feeling of intense dislike.

First then to Banksy and his Mountain Goat. In one week at the beginning of last August, seven animal pictures appeared dotted around London. The Goat which was the first, was painted overnight on the gable end of a house on the southern approach road to Kew Bridge. The media were fascinated by Banksy’s picture explosion (whether he was the artist was never confirmed but his distinctive style was the giveaway), but nothing was heard from the supposed painter and a motive for the new series has yet to be revealed.e

It was not till five months later that I saw the work for myself. I was standing at the bus stop nearby and, to my surprise, there it was in front of me across the road – and it was ‘love at first sight’. For ten minutes I stood mesmerised (I missed my bus!), and I have twice been back for another look ! Through his picture, Banksy had converted a blank wall with a butress into a high mountain range with an animal balancing on a peak dislodging rocks as it keeps his perilous footing. In the striking silhouette I saw an adult who during his life had coped with all sorts of adversity, but who was now alone and vulnerable, helpless with nowhere to go. Here was an animal in peril, as indeed are all species threatened with extinction from a hostile environment. Banksy had so cleverly conveyed to me a profound and moving message. Art that can do that is special.

Now to King Charles III. For years, each day I have walked past some of Smith’s graffiti painted on the side of a local barber. The area covered by what I see as bland, unimaginative faces of personalities (local or national), accompanied by the odd aeroplane, bird or razor-blade and the like, has slowly increased. Allowing his ‘canvas’ to broaden suggests that at least the barber thinks he is an artist of merit! For me, however, the painting of the King is crude, badly drawn and ugly, it is in no way engaging and provokes nothing apart from antipathy. I just want to turn away and walk quickly by. 

Like many other pieces of Smith’s work in the area, I hope that this barber’s shop ‘art’ will be deleted. Indeed, neighbours have written letters to the council pleading for the paintings to be removed but to no avail. Interestingly, other pieces of Smith’s work have recently appeared on a large wall on a roundabout just a few hundred metres away and I see them as equally unattractive. Smith is clearly busy, and it is difficult to see what will stop him. 

The appeal of Banksy’s Mountain Goat is so immediate, I have fantasised that were it to be magically transferred back 30,000 years and appear on a cave wall, in no time it would be understood by our forebears. The picture of Charles III would, however, be meaningless! 

The first illustration shows a photo of a mountain goat painted by ‘Banksy’ which appeared one morning in August 2024 on a wall in Kew. The second illustration is a photo of a street painting of King Charles III by ‘Paul Don Smith’ outside a nearby barber.

For helping me write this blog, I would like to thank Emma, Adrian, Luis, Sarah, Rohan and Vivien.

NB. Since this article was written the wall on which the goat was painted has been knocked down. Fortunately, it was removed for safe-keeping but when and where it will reappear is not yet known. (Joe Collier, 1 Marche 2025).