The Drinker (Banksy) Explained

The Drinker
Artist:	Banksy
Medium:	Metal
Condition:	Stolen
City:	London, United Kingdom

The Drinker is a statue by graffiti artist Banksy, not to be confused with the stencil of the same name, a graffiti artwork of a rat drinking a cocktail, on a wall at North Beach, Lowestoft, England.^{[1] [2]}

History

In 2004, the statue was placed, in a small square at Princes Circus, on Shaftesbury Avenue, between New Oxford Street and High Holborn, central London.^{[3] [4]} It is a subversive comment using The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.^[4]

In March 2004,^[5] The Drinker was stolen by "art terrorist", football hooligan Andy Link, a former porn star, with an arrest record, and a record of drug charges,^[6] (also known as AK47).^[7]

Around a year after Link took The Drinker, Link says he registered "the lost and found item" with police, and contacted Banksy, asking for £5,000, or an original canvas, "to cover costs".^[8]

In 2007,^[8] three years after Link stole it, the sculpture was taken from Link's garden,^[9] while he was away.^{[4] [10]}

In December 2015, Link re-installed, as "The Stinker", "an imitation of Banksy’s sculpture"^[11] "The Drinker", modified with a toilet seat, cistern, and graffiti, in central London.^[12]

"The Stinker" (2015) was a commissioned work from sculptor Emmanuel Okoro.^[13]

The 2016 crowdfunded documentary (with "dream-reenactment sequence", "amusing artifice"^[14]) film The Banksy Job is about Andy Link and the work.^{[15] [16] [17] [18]}

See also

• List of works by Banksy

Further reading

• News: AK47: The porn star turned artist who held Banksy to ransom . 19 August 2023 . . 7 November 2013 . en.
• Tichy . Anna . Banksy: Artist, Prankster, or Both? . NYLS Law Review . . 1 January 2021 . 65 . 1 . 81–103 . 19 August 2023 . 0145-448X.
• Moriente . David . De vándalo a artista: Banksy / From Vandal to Artist: Banksy . Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte . 2017 . 27 . 2015 . 10.15366/anuario2015.002 . 10486/677349 . free .
• Web site: The Banquet (GrayScale Productions). Ak47 Christmas Message - The war is over! . . 19 August 2023 . 11 December 2015.
• News: Flanagan . Emma . Banksy sculpture returned to original spot more than 10 years after heist . 19 August 2023 . . December 13, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151216185224/https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Banksy-sculpture-returned-orignal-spot-10-years/story-28356813-detail/story.html . 16 December 2015. <
• News: Thompson . Jessie . Banksy thief reveals how he stole street artist's work in new film . 19 August 2023 . [Evening Standard] . 5 June 2017 . en.
• Web site: Andrew Link 'ANDY AK47' . LOT 111 - 'LOVE', 'HATE' and 'BE AFRAID' GBP 4,000 . LIVE AUCTION 4334 . [Christie's] . 19 August 2023 . October 9, 2012.
• News: Panesar . Ranjeet . Art exhibition show: 'Pile 'o' Shite' by Andy Link Aka47 . 19 August 2023 . London Mums Magazine . 4 February 2022.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tallis . Justin . People gather to view a graffiti artwork of a rat drinking a cocktail, which bears the hallmarks of street artist Banksy, on a wall at North Beach . Getty Images . AFP . 20 August 2023 . Lowestoft, England . en-us . August 8, 2021.
2. News: Banksy: Council 'appalled' at Lowestoft mural vandalism . 20 August 2023 . BBC News . 15 August 2021.
3. • News: Woodyatt . Amy . 'Stolen' Banksy statue pulled from auction . 19 August 2023 . CNN . 18 November 2019 . en.
   • banksy-the-drinker cnn
4. News: Emma. Graham-Harrison. 2019-11-17. Artist who 'kidnapped' Banksy's Drinker claims Sotheby's selling stolen statue. The Observer. 17 November 2019. 0029-7712. www.theguardian.com. 17 November 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191117144054/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/nov/17/row-over-sale-banksys-sculpture-drinker-sothebys. live.
5. News: Hattenstone . Simon . But is it kidnap? . 19 August 2023 . The Guardian . 2 April 2004 . I haven't got a clue what this means, so I ask the Guardian's art critic, Adrian Searle. "This is the sort of thing that really, really bad wannabe artists blurt out, as a sort of verbal smokescreen," he says. "The tone is telling - wounded, aggressive, hectoring, melodramatic, apocalyptic, with feeble stabs at humour. It is a waste of my 'primary processes' to try to get to the bottom of it, if it has one. In my view, AK47 are a few seminars short of an art-theory course. In any case, loads of art deals with time, and with the fact that art is a process and a journey as much as it is about objects which can be bought and sold. And who believes all this rot about 'timelessness' any more, anyway? Maybe they were hit on the head by one of those leaky rocks.".
6. News: Zeitchik . Steven . Tribeca: An 'art terrorist's' tangle with U.S. Embassy officials . 20 August 2023 . Baltimore Sun . Los Angeles Times . 13 April 2016.
7. News: Battersby. Matilda. Meet the 'art terrorist' AK47 who stole Banksy's The Drinker to expose 'faeces' of modern art. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/meet-the-art-terrorist-ak47-who-stole-banksys-the-drinker-to-expose-faeces-of-modern-art-10390961.html . 18 June 2022 . subscription . live. 17 December 2015. The Independent. 15 July 2015.
8. Web site: Artist who 'kidnapped' Banksy's The Drinker claims ownership ahead of Sotheby's sale . The Art Newspaper . 19 August 2023 . 18 November 2019.
9. News: Selvin . Claire . Artist Claims That Banksy Sculpture That Could Sell for $1.3 M. at Sotheby's Was Stolen From Him . 19 August 2023 . ARTnews . 18 November 2019.
10. News: Brown . Mark . Sotheby's pulls 'stolen' Banksy sculpture The Drinker from auction . 19 August 2023 . The Guardian . 19 November 2019.
11. Web site: Banksy Sculpture Reimagines Rodin in Homage to 'The Thinker' . Sotheby’s . 19 August 2023 . 12 November 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191117083256/https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/banksy-sculpture-reimagines-rodin-in-homage-to-the-thinker . 17 November 2019 .
12. • banksy-the-drinker cnn
    • self-proclaimed-british-art-terrorist 500952454 gettyimages
    • self-proclaimed-british-art-terrorist 500952576 gettyimages
    • sculpture-by-banksy-now-amended-by-the-artist-ak47 125835407 alamy
    • banksys-sculpture-the-drinker-returned-as-the-stinker 108560654 alamy
    • Banksy's Drinker turns Stinker flickr
13. Web site: Emmanuel Okoro . Artsper . 19 August 2023 . en . 2015/16 Commission: Collaboration film with AK47 and Daylight Robbery LTD (Recreation of Banksy drinker) now the (Stinker) (Daylight Robbery).
14. News: 'The Banksy Job': Tribeca Review . 19 August 2023 . The Hollywood Reporter . 18 April 2016.
15. Web site: Why This Man Stole One Of Banksy's Prized Pieces, And Kept The Cone. 22 July 2015. 18 April 2016. 20 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151220174653/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/07/22/the-banksy-job-film-ak47-indiegogo_n_7849352.html. live.
16. Web site: Documentary Reveals Secrets of Banksy Heist - artnet News. 18 June 2015. 18 April 2016. 19 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160419120153/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/documentary-banksy-heist-308913. live.
17. Web site: Andy Link Linky aka AK47 attends The Banksy Job Premiere about the day a Banksy statue was snatched . imago-images.com . 19 August 2023 . June 12, 2017 . Andy Link Linky aka AK47 attends The Banksy Job Premiere about the day a Banksy statue was snatched from London in broad daylight, The Prince Charles Cinema, London..
18. News: New film tells story of Yorkshire art dealer's feud with Banksy . 19 August 2023 . yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk . 3 June 2017.