Hickory Dickory Dock, a Banksy Ran Up the Clock

Banksy's back. The secretive street artist hit the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan this week,  leaving an image of a rat running inside a clock like a hamster on an exercise wheel.

"I think it's great," 23-year-old Rachel Semyonov, who spotted the piece during her morning commute, told WNYC. "Honestly, the first thing I thought was 'rat race.' New York is a rat race. Like, everyone here is just like scavenging, and everyone is, like, out to hustle basically. And that's what I see."

Banksy hasn't unveiled a project in the city since at least October of 2013, when he conducted a month-long "residency," putting up 31 works across town.

"I tried following him around" Semyonov said of Banksy's residency, "and like, every time I got to one of his pieces, the cops would've taken them down already."

Banksy posted an image of the rat on his Instagram account Wednesday afternoon. As of lunchtime Thursday, the rat was still on the clock, running in place.

Update at 10 a.m. Friday: There's another one.

#Banksy is back in the city!
A large mural he painted in the #EastVillage is a protest against the imprisonment of Journalist and Painter @zehradoganjinha. #MorningsOn1 @MHerzenberg pic.twitter.com/YKr2gkVEPt

— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) March 16, 2018