'Look up, Launceston!': City's Banksy lights up the night with public art

An anonymous artist has fastened gleaming 18th century lanterns to posts across the city in the latest phase of their public art campaign which hopes to get citizens "looking up".

The lamps are the work of pseudonymous Lord Scabar - often called Launceston's own Banksy - an artist whose cat stencils still bless plenty of street-corners.

The Lord most memorably created and placed tiny doors and windows on buildings across the city in 2018, and said the new lamplights were a continuation of that artistic campaign, as well as a bit of pragmatism.

"Some intrepid readers may recall the little illuminated windows that began arriving after the original doors back in old 2019," the Lord told The Examiner.

"After the relentless vandalism campaign destroyed most of the earlier work, I began to consider alternative placements - it was a learning experience in that way.

"These latest artefacts are a continuation of that self-same tradition."

That tradition is born from the anonymous artist's "inspirational source", an alternate Launceston they call 'The Old City', which informs their accentuation of the city's history and often anachronistic architecture.

In keeping with the antique theme, the lanterns are styled as eighteenth century gas lamps, though instead of metal, they're made from wood and filled with LEDs and hang from many of the city's wooden poles.

The lights - each a multicoloured variety - are housed within the decorative lamps and semi-translucent panels, giving the effect of stained glass windows.

The Lord said they're a fitting successor to his doors windows, though they have a special message: "look up rather than down".

"I'm always hoping for a sense of wonder, mystery, whimsy or even appreciation of a particular setting to occur for any and all who spot [the works]," the Lord said.

"A great deal of what's best about the city is to be seen above the pedestrian level, both literally and figuratively."

The Examiner has tracked down two lanterns so far - in the carpark of Cataract Gorge and at Mad Apple on St John Street - but the Lord said there are plenty more.

As for what projects were coming up next, they said there is "something in the works" - a project that's been taking place over ten years,

"For some it will be a reward, for others a genuine surprise," the Lord said.

"I am one with a great many tasks and a long, long, long way to go; yet rest assured that I'm always working - even if it seems like nothing is happening.

"You can't have action without a certain amount of stillness, or to put it another way: a 'mystery explained is no mystery at all' as the marsupials are fond of saying. So I'm thinking of you, dear Launceston, and will hopefully be in touch again quite soon. Until then."