The motif for Love Rat first appeared as a street art piece mural in Liverpool on the door of an abandoned house. Famously, the artist also created another huge rat mural on the side of a pub which subsequently has been removed. Love Rat, one of the artist’s most recognisable images, sees Banksy return to the familiar motif of the rat which so often appears across his prolific body of work. Executed in the artist’s signature stencil style, the central image is that of a rat holding a paintbrush as fresh, blood red paint from the recently painted heart drips down the scene. Promoted as “ideal for a cheating spouse” on Banksy’s website, Love Rat makes us think of the duality of love with its capacity to cause pain as well as joy.

Love Rat can potentially be placed within Banksy’s wide modus operandi and approach to his craft. In his 2005 autobiographical book Wall and Piece, which features over 30 different representations of rats from the artist’s early career Banksy writes, “[Rats] exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilisations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.”