VENICE – Graffiti artist Banksy has released a video which shows him setting up a new piece of art in San Marco, only to be removed by the police soon after.

 The video, which appeared on Instagram, shows the mysterious artist - his face hidden, as always, behind a newspaper - sitting beside a group of oil paintings. These collectively portray a large cruise ship entering La Serenissima, with smaller traditional gondolas in the foreground, and the title “Venice in oil” beside the unlicensed street stall.

 The artist’s international status went inevitably unnoticed by the oblivious authorities who patrol the city during the busy Biennale period. The video shows the local police arriving and talking to the artists. Banksy is then shown taking his art elsewhere.

 The one-minute video confirms, at least, that the artist is in Venice, and as such it sheds light on another work, discovered last week, which was thought to be by Banksy too. The graffito, which appeared on the island of Dorsoduro just above the waterline of a canal, shows a migrant child, wearing a life jacket and holding a pink flair in the air.

 Banksy’s themes have always been conspicuously modern and it seems his contribution to the prestigious Biennale is no different. Venice faces significant challenges from cruise ships, who drop off large numbers of tourists for the day. The city is in the process of introducing a tourist tax to replace its hotel tax because of the challenge posed by these day visitors, who crowd the city but don’t make the same financial contribution.

 The master of mystery, and therefore also of publicity, joked in his online post, “despite being the largest and most prestigious art event in the world, for some reason I’ve never been invited.” Little is known about Banksy other than that he is from Bristol, but he has always made a conscientious effort to distance himself from the traditional world of art.

 Banksy has, nevertheless, in recent years become a household name with work which is utterly contemporary and always à la mode. Though he complains about a lack of invite to the Biennale, clearly its artistic draw and the unprecedented publicity and media attention around the event is as irresistible to him as it is to the many other artists who flock to Venice.