Few individuals in the graffiti world achieve worldwide recognition. One such exception is Banksy, an anonymous artist from England whose every work goes far beyond simple street painting.
I, personally, have been following the work of this talented “vandal” for a long time, and I invite you to open the veil of secrecy over his personality a little bit.
It is believed that the man who is hiding behind the pseudonym Banksy was born in 1974 in the English city of Bristol. At the beginning of his career, a street artist was a member of several graffiti teams. However, later on, Banksy continued his mission on his own.
In 2000, the artist switched to the stencil style of drawing as this reduced the risk of meeting with the police due to the fast speed of drawing (law enforcement agencies do not really like such creators). But this decision was not only about safety: the unique style of the future street art icon was born due to choosing this technique.
Appearance at numerous street exhibitions, a bright and striking style that touched on acute social topics, as a result, led to the fact that rich people were ready to spend large sums of money for a piece of a wall with a Banksy drawing. Now, any new work of the artist or the next assumption about his true personality is becoming a hotly discussed topic. In 2006, the renewed interest in street art was even dubbed the “Banksy Effect.”
In 2007, Banksy’s works were sold at Sotheby’s for a record amount at that time. The artist’s reaction was as follows: he updated the site, displaying on its main page a drawing of the auction, where there was a canvas with the inscription “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit.”
In 2008, he organized an art exhibition for artists from all over the world in a tunnel under the London Underground station. The drawings were applied directly to the walls of the tunnel, and the location of the event was kept secret until it began.
In 2009, after the end of the UN summit on global warming, he did several works on this topic in London. The most famous of them is the simple inscription “I don’t believe in global warming,” almost half-submerged in water.
In the same year, the council of one of the districts of London decided to paint over Banksy’s parody of the royal family partially. The building’s owner cried as she asked the workers to stop, but part of the work was destroyed. By the way, this picture was previously used by Blur for the cover of the Crazy Beat single.
In 2011, a piece of paper with the real name of Banksy was put up on the eBay online auction. The author claimed to have found a link between the sales dates of the artist’s work and the tax returns of a particular person. The initial cost of the lot was $3,000, but after the 38th bid, it reached $1 million. After that, the item suddenly disappeared. Rumor has it that the auction was organized by Banksy himself.
A year earlier, Banksy had released Exit Through the Gift Shop, which he wrote and directed by himself. The tape tells about the life of street artists, including Banksy himself. Many people still argue whether the film was documentary or staged, but the fact remains: it was nominated for a number of prestigious film awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
On October 12, 2013, he organized an anonymous sale of his works in Central Park in New York, where anyone could buy the “original Banksy” for $60. The beauty of the story is that no one knew it was Banksy. Later, 2 canvases from the sale were auctioned for $214 thousand, and the artist himself said that it was a one-time thing
In October 2018, the author’s copy of the graffiti entitled “Girl with a Balloon” was put up for auction at Sotheby’s. When the amount per lot reached more than 1 million pounds and the word “sold” sounded, a built-in paper shredder was launched in the frame of the painting and destroyed most of the canvas. The shock from what happened later gave way to delight – the painting was renamed, calling it “Love in the Trash Can,” and the cost of the masterpiece rose to almost $2.5 million.
The question of Banksy’s real identity has bugged more than one fan and journalist. Here is a list of the most likely candidates for the role of this particular artist.
Robert Del Naya. British musician and founder of the band Massive Attack is also known as a 3D graffiti artist. He is from Bristol, where Banksy himself was born. The reason to suspect Del Naya appeared when DJ Goldie, a close acquaintance of an anonymous artist, blabbed his name on the air of a local radio station: “Just write “Banksy” in a graffiti font on a T-shirt – and you’re done, you can sell it. With all due respect to Robert, I think he is a wonderful artist. He changed the art world.”
Del Naya himself calls Banksy his close friend and colleague and completely denies this conspiracy theory. However, Del Naya’s participation in some graffiti teams in his youth and frequent appearances of Banksy’s works at Massive Attack venues continue to raise questions.
Robin Cunningham. Scientists at the Queen Mary University of London decided to use science in the search for the artist’s identity. Using geographic profiling, they matched the locations of Banksy’s work in London with the living area of a suspected person – Robin Cunningham, who was spotted out by newspapers back in 2008. Scientists are still confident in this version, but most researchers agree that Cunningham is just an accomplice.
Jamie Hewlett. He’s one of the members of the Gorillaz group. The connection was discovered by an anonymous legal expert who pointed out that the singer is the founder of many companies doing business with Banksy. Besides, many of Gorillaz’s videos feature works that are stylistically similar to the artist’s works.
