And they were right. I went to check it out with two visiting friends last night. For the those who haven't read about it by now: Banksy opened a pet store in The Village... or so it appears, at first. Upon closer inspection, one quickly realizes that it's not exactly the pet store it seems. The people walking by who didn't look more closely actually just kept walking, not realizing what they were missing.
Going inside the pet store to look at the snoozing leopard reveals that it's actually a moving fur coat.
Other bizarre animatronics inside the pet store – among the not-for-sale merchandise like pet food and toys – include a monkey watching television amidst pizza leftovers and beer, a swimming fish stick, and overwrought Tweety Bird and tanks of wiggling meat products.
TV-watching monkey from Johanna on Vimeo.
As Wooster Collective mentioned, one wouldn't have any clue that Banksy was responsible for this had they not told us (or had we not been friends with Banksy himself). Very cool.
Pet store windows from Johanna on Vimeo.
Pet sausages from Johanna on Vimeo.
The whole thing had an absurd, Science of Sleep-style surreality about it. I thought at one point to myself, "I wish life were like this." I quickly took it back, though, because then tiny strokes of curio-genius like this one wouldn't be as special.
[image of sleeping leopard from the outside borrowed from Wooster Collective]
