BUSH

Appearing in Canonbury, North London, in May 2012, Bush is one of Banksy's simplest and most site-specific interventions. On a freshly white-painted wall, a few black lines describe the lower half of a woman's naked body. A real mass of ivy spilling over the top of the wall completes the figure, becoming her pubic hair. Contemporary coverage documented the work by 23 May 2012.

The joke depends entirely upon the site. Banksy provides only the minimum information necessary for the viewer to recognize a body; the living plant supplies both the missing anatomy and the punchline. The title Bush completes the visual pun.

The work belongs to a recurring aspect of Banksy's practice in which existing architecture, street furniture or vegetation becomes inseparable from the image. Here the intervention is particularly economical: a blank wall, a few painted lines and an unruly plant are transformed into a monumental nude.

It is also a rare Banksy designed to change naturally over time. As the ivy grew, was trimmed or died back, the appearance of the figure inevitably changed with it. Rather than simply painting on the city, Banksy allowed the city—and nature—to finish the picture.