C’est Ne Pas Banana

A new mural in Notting Hill features the Pink Bear holding a banana, combining playfulness with art historical commentary. The work offers a light twist on serious ideas, encouraging viewers to reconsider the familiar.

In April 2022, I painted a mural on Oxford Gardens in Notting Hill, just around the corner from Graffik Gallery. It shows the Pink Bear holding a banana, set against a bright yellow background. I titled it C’est Ne Pas Banana — a quiet nod to René Magritte’s famous phrase “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. Like Magritte’s work, this piece plays with perception. It asks us to think again about what we are really looking at.

The banana is no stranger to art. It has appeared in works by Paul Gauguin, Giorgio de Chirico, Andy Warhol, Sarah Lucas, Banksy and Maurizio Cattelan. It is sometimes funny, sometimes strange, sometimes loaded with commentary. By placing the banana in the hand of the Pink Bear, I wanted to create something that felt both absurd and sincere. It is an everyday object, but one with a strange kind of power when you pause to consider it.

The mural was painted with brushes, not spray cans. This is important to me. Using a brush allows for more control and precision, and it connects back to my studio practice. The work began with a photograph, which I used to carefully guide the finished piece. Over the course of two long days, I built it up layer by layer, bringing texture and presence to the Bear and its new companion.

The Pink Bear has always walked the line between humour and honesty. Here, that balance continues. The piece is playful, but it also invites questions. Why a banana? Why here? What is this saying about image, repetition, and the way we understand symbols?

For me, this mural was about creating something that stopped people in their tracks. Something simple, bold, and open. It is not a joke, and it is not a riddle. It is just an image that asks you to look again.