Without warning, two powerful new works from Banksy have recently come to light, revealed through the enigmatic artist’s Instagram account. As always, there’s a powerful message behind the newly revealed pieces – in this instance, drawing attention to current issues concerning migration and over-tourism. While Banksy continues to successfully evade the limelight, we figured the time was right to highlight his signature brand of artistic activism and explore one of the biggest questions in the art world today: who exactly is Banksy?
Rage, the Flower ThrowerRise to Prominence
Let’s not beat around the bush: you’ve more than likely heard of Banksy, or, at the very least, encountered one of his works. Banksy rose to prominence through a mass of provocative stencil creations that appeared throughout Britain in the late 90s and early 2000s. These works, created in public spaces, included such iconic graphics as ‘Rage, the Flower Thrower’, which depicts a protestor slinging a bouquet of flowers in place of a Molotov cocktail. Over the years, Banksy strayed beyond the realm of traditional street art, to create on a massive scale – including his own twisted theme park, ‘Dismaland’, and a ‘Walled Off Hotel’ in Bethlehem. Regardless of the medium and format he uses to create his work, they are almost all created under the same focus: they are typically politically charged in nature and often lash out against corporate greed, consumer culture and government power. His work evokes valid Orwellian fears of a ‘Big Brother’ state and serve to make humanity question the world we live in and the rules we have been conditioned to abide by. His disruptive artistic endeavours garner news headlines around the world whenever they appear and have naturally attracted a mass of imitators and profiteers in their wake.
‘Walled Off Hotel’ in BethlehemTrue Identity
Now, before we dive in too deep, we must address the (painted) elephant in the room: Banksy’s true identity has not yet been officially revealed. However, while Banksy seems unlikely to ever lift his veil of secrecy, there are elements of his past that allude to his identity – or at least help to narrow it down. The art world is all but certain that Banksy was born in the English city of Bristol sometime during the 60s or 70s, or, at the very least, lived there during the early 90s when the name ‘Banksy’ began to appear on graffiti throughout the city. These early works, produced by Banksy as a supposed member of the DryBreadZ crew, were a far cry from the signature stencil style that he is known for today.
Girl With A Balloon
They were almost always created by freehand, influenced by the work of English graf writer 3D. During the mid 90s, Banksy would be inspired by French artist Blek le Rat to experiment with stencils and introduce political messaging into his work. This would soon form the basis of what-would-become his signature style, which he would spread through the streets of Bristol, followed by London after having apparently moving there at the turn of the millennium when his iconic chimps and rats began to appear throughout the city. It was here that Banksy would make a number of connections within the art world, including the formation of a relationship with his first agent and publicist, Steve Lazarides.
Suspects
Robin Gunningham
There is a small pool of key suspects that avid art fans have whittled Banksy’s identity down to. The most long-standing and popular of theories is that Banksy is actually 3D himself, aka Massive Attack founding member Robert Del Naja. Many similarities abound that appear to link the two. These range from similarities in their individual artworks and shared friendships to the more seemingly damning evidence that suggests a correlation between Massive Attack’s tour dates and the emergence of new Banksy artworks. Naturally, Banksy has denied the allegations. He wrote the intro for the book ‘3D and the Art of Massive Attack’, where he noted that he first encountered 3D’s work and reputation as a 10-year-old on the streets of Bristol. Del Naja too has dismissed the rumours, claiming that such rumours are ‘grossly exaggerated’.
Robert del Naja
Another likely suspect – and currently the most popular – is Bristol local Robin Gunningham, whose upbringing and movements closely match those of Banksy. Supporting this theory is the fact that Gunningham lacks the star profile of Del Naja, making it far more believable that he’d be able to slip around undetected. Still, footage taken from the 2018 Sotheby’s auction when Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ painting famously self-destructed – transforming the work mid-auction into an all new piece titled ‘Love is in the Bin’ – appears to show a man that many are convinced is Gunningham filming the destruction from an angle that is suspiciously similar to the footage posted to Banksy’s own Instagram. Furthermore, for an artist himself, Gunningham has seemingly produced very little work himself. The few examples that have publicly made it out on to the market have attracted a wealth of interest and appropriately high sales prices solely based on this supposed connection to Banksy.
Banksy Kissing CoppersWhile Gunningham and Del Naja seem to be the most likely to be behind Banksy’s work, there is still no conclusive proof as to his true identity. Other supposed suspects include French artist Mr. Brainwash, who appeared in Banksy’s documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, and a man who identified himself when asked under suspicion as ‘Robin Banks’, though it is highly likely that the name given was simply a pun.
Well Connected
For a man of such mystery, we can’t ignore the fact that there exists a surprisingly large amount of confirmed Banksy artwork and communication. Celebrities like Brad Pitt have been able to commission works and there is no shortage of Banksy interviews and statements from the past two decades. Banksy has even been credited with creating one of The Simpsons more memorable couch gag intros. We also can’t overlook the fact that Banksy sports the coveted ‘verified’ tick on his Instagram account, suggesting that someone at the social media service knows something that we don’t.
Clearly there are many, many people out there that actually do know who Banksy is, but it is abundantly clear that none are keen on spilling the beans. We’ll have to wait and see if the truth is ever revealed, but Perhaps the world is better off not knowing – after all, what’s life without a bit of fun and games?