The Drinker (Banksy)

The Drinker is a statue by graffiti artist Banksy, not to be confused with the stencil of the same name, a graffiti artwork of a rat drinking a cocktail, on a wall at North Beach, Lowestoft, England.

History

In 2004, the statue was placed in a small square at Princes Circus on Shaftesbury Avenue between New Oxford Street and High Holborn in central London. It is a subversive comment using The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.
In March 2004, The Drinker was stolen by "art terrorist" and football hooligan Andy Link, a former porn star with an arrest record and a record of drug charges.
Around a year after Link took The Drinker, Link says he registered "the lost and found item" with police, and contacted Banksy, asking for £5,000, or an original canvas, "to cover costs".
In 2007, three years after Link stole it, the sculpture was taken from Link's garden, while he was away.
In December 2015, Link re-installed, as The Stinker, "an imitation of Banksy's sculpture" The Drinker, modified with a toilet seat, cistern and graffiti, in central London.
The Stinker was a commissioned work from sculptor Emmanuel Okoro.
The 2016 crowdfunded documentary film The Banksy Job is about Andy Link and the work.