The biography of this mysterious artist is called a great hoax. This personality is shrouded in mystery, rumors and speculation. And creativity, represented by the modern genre of street art, attracts millions of fans around the world. Banksy made a breakthrough by not only proving that you can create with complete anonymity. It is also his merit that the street graffiti genre was first spoken about in the context of contemporary art.
Personality
No art critic knows with certainty who is hiding behind the creative pseudonym Banksy. But three versions claim the right to be called the most reliable.
According to the first, the real name of the graffiti artist is Robert Banks, and this is, in fact, the whole version. But the second theory is based on a whole investigation conducted by scientists from Queen Mary University of London. It is assumed that Banksy, aka Robert or Robin Cunningham, was born in Bristol, British in 1974.
Passion for graffiti and the character of the rebel led to the fact that by the end of the 90s the writer's drawings began to demonstrate, in addition to good technique, the deep meaning of certain social phenomena, their significance for society and for the individual. The authorities, of course, did not like this, so avoiding the police chase became a common thing for a street artist.
In this regard, stencils were invented, which are the corporate style of Banksy's work. Their use helped to act with lightning speed. And often by the time the police siren was already being heard in dangerous proximity, the artist managed to hide in the nearest gateway, hiding a can of paint in his pocket.
As the persecution intensifies, the art of the graffiti master becomes more topical. People notice ironic and philosophical sketches, take pictures, take pictures. Soon they started talking about Banksy in other European cities, and then on the other side of the ocean.
The third version, authored by British journalist Craig Williams, reads: "Banksy is none other than Robert Del Naya, lead singer of the trip-hop group Massive Attack from Bristol" (Bristol again!). In this theory, the journalist strengthened himself, having discovered the appearance of Banksy's works in the places of the group's performances, in whatever city of the world they were held.
In total, Williams noticed 10 such coincidences in 12 years. The hypothesis is supported by the fact that Del Naya is also fond of graffiti and has been creating them since the 80s. The musician himself said that he had nothing to do with Banksy's personality. Williams also believes that Banksy's work can be collective.
“This huge amount of work suggests that,” he said.
Creation
Banksy's works are really great. The most resonant of them is a kind of remarks in response to certain social events and moods. So, in 2006, the artist exhibited in London Soho an installation in the form of a crumpled red telephone booth, “hacked to death” with an ax. In an attempt to decipher the message, the audience was divided into two camps. The former scolded the artist for attempting to assassinate the classic symbol of London, the latter admired the elegant way of "nostalgic" for the era of live communication.
Criticizing the all-consuming era of consumption, Banksy draws a crucified man with shopping bags, a crying girl, led by the hands of two symbols of America - and a clown.
Often in works (and today they are already called so) appeals to the moral side of society. The Kissing Constables (2004) and The Naked Man (2006) vividly illustrate these messages. The first was made in Brighton, London, near Trafalgar Street, and in 2014 was sold at an auction in Miami for $ 575,000.
Inherent in the spirit of Banksy and completely hooligan antics. For example, in 2004, he drew and printed a stack of 10-pound bills, on which, instead of the queen, he depicted the face of the tragically deceased. The banknote was adorned with the inscription "Banksy of England".
A significant part of Banksy's work, both at the beginning and now, is devoted to peace issues, criticizing military conflicts and political provocations. There are many to enumerate here: "Bouquet" (Jerusalem, 2003), which depicts a rebel throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of an incendiary mixture; "Peace Dove in a Bulletproof Vest" (2007), "Girl with a Bomb" (2003).
As you can see, the peak of graffiti art falls on the early 2000s. At the same time, the recognition of Banksy's work also comes. From a street hooligan and a vandal, he turns into a genius of social pop art. The artist's paintings and drawings are eagerly bought by celebrities and collectors of all stripes; they leave the art auction for fabulous sums.
So, in 2008, the work "Pest Control", created in collaboration with British artist Damien Hirst, was sold at an auction in New York for a record amount of 1.870 million dollars.
In 2010, Banksy presented the author's documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). The main character of the picture is the director making a film about graffiti art, talking with representatives of this genre. It is noteworthy that Banksy himself appears in the frame, but his face is hidden by the shadow from the hood.
In 2015, the artist becomes cramped within the existing direction, and he initiates an exhibition-parody of Disneyland. Banksy is deploying an exposition in the British resort town of Weston-super-Mare and calls it "Dismaland" (English dismal - "oppressive, gloomy").
The entourage of "Dismaland" really creates a depressing impression: instead of bright palaces, there are burnt ruins of Gothic castles, fabulous carriages are overturned, and the pools are overgrown with swamp mud.
Banksy today
Among the artist's recent political resonance works is a graffiti illustration, written in 2017, in which a worker erases one star from the EU flag. This is how the author expressed his attitude towards Britain's exit from the European Union.
The artist's personality full of contradictions and the aura of mystery around his person only fuel interest in his works. Today they can be seen in the Lilley Fine Art Gallery (Ireland), contemporary art museums and private collections around the world. A gallery of works is also presented on the official website.
By the way, in the feedback section it is reported that Banksy is not on Twitter and Facebook, but there is a verified account on Instagram. For other questions, an e-mail address is left on the site.
Attempts to establish the identity of the great mystifier continue unabated. In 2017, the Internet was flooded with fake news that Banksy's identity was established, allegedly it turned out to be 35-year-old Paul Horner from Liverpool, who was arrested at an exhibition in Palestine. Serious media ignored the message. So the real revelation of Banksy is yet to come.
Work
- 2002 - "Girl with a Red Ball"
- 2002 - Pulp Fiction
- 2004 - The Kissing Constables
- 2004 - Napalm
- 2006 - "Corpse of a telephone booth"
- 2006 - The Naked Man
- 2007 - "Pest Control"
- 2007 - "Dove in a bulletproof vest"
- 2011 - "Shopping Till You Drop"
- 2013 - Slave Labor
- 2015 - Steve Jobs
"Pulp Fiction". © Banksy
Banksy has long been the most famous street artist in the world - it's hard to argue with that. His work is constantly appearing on the streets and in galleries around the world, and he still manages to remain anonymous. The mystery of Banksy's personality further fuels interest both in the artist himself and in his work. In 2008, the journalist Claudia Joseph published in the English newspaper The Mail On Sunday under the headline: "Graffiti artist Banksy exposed: he is a former public school student from a suburban middle class." We bring to your attention a translation of this interesting and very thorough journalistic investigation.
"Thrower of Flowers". © Banksy
He is probably the most famous living artist. Someone considers him a genius, someone - a vandal. He is always controversial, and is equally admirable and angry. Since becoming famous for his stencilled guerrilla art in public places on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even the West Bank, his work has sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Among his collectors are dozens of stars: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera.
He also became famous for his daring antics that made the headlines: for example, he left an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo inmate at Disneyland California, and hung a reproduction of the Mona Lisa with a "smile" instead of a face in the Louvre. But perhaps the biggest provocation that constantly haunts the minds of the public is that Banksy's identity has always been an enigma, a jealously guarded secret known only to a few trusted friends.
Banksy's personality has become overgrown with myths. Like his real name is Robin Banks. That he was supposedly a butcher before. That his parents do not know what their son is doing and think that he is a very successful artist and decorator. There is also a hypothesis that Banksy is actually a collective of artists, and a person with that name does not exist. Banksy’s personality is so curious that when he tosses a pizza box in a trash can in Los Angeles, it appears on eBay: the person who put it up for auction believes that the remaining anchovies in the box may have traces of the artist’s DNA. ...
© Banksy
He is the Scarlet Primrose ( The Scarlet Pimpernel is the hero of Emma Oritsa's novel of the same name about a British aristocrat spy who operated in France during the Terror era - approx. ed.) of contemporary art, which is so skillful in covering its tracks that even his agent claims that he is not sure who he is. Indeed, identifying the elusive Banksy proved to be as difficult as predicting where his next work will appear. But now, after an exhausting investigation that lasted a year and during which we spoke with a dozen friends, former colleagues, enemies, neighbors and members of the Banksy family, The Mail On Sunday newspaper has come close to unraveling Banksy's identity. The man we think of as Banksy is not a downtown neighborhood bully, but perhaps predictably, a former public school student from a middle-class suburb.
Our search began with a photograph taken in Jamaica of a smiling man in a blue shirt and jeans with a can of paint at his feet. The picture was taken four years ago ( in 2004 - approx. ed.), and is believed to depict Banksy at work. When the photo hit print, it was the first crack in the armor of anonymity that the artist has surrounded himself with since his work began to attract the attention of people in the art world. Naturally, Banksy stated that he was not in the photograph. By the way, Banksy and all his entourage constantly deny everything.
"Laugh, but someday we will be in power." © Banksy
© Banksy
Armed with this snapshot, we traveled to Bristol, long known to be the artist's hometown, and met a man who claimed to have met Banksy in person. Of course, many claim to have met Banksy in person, but when you start asking questions, it turns out that they "know someone who knows Banksy," and the trail is lost. However, this man said that he not only knew the elusive artist, but also revealed his name to us. The story became addictive as the name was not a common variation on the "Banks" theme. He claims that the person in the photograph was previously named Robin Gunningham: it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out how this name came to be called Banksy ( Ben is an abbreviated version of the name Robin - approx. ed.).
From the data in the public domain, we were able to glean something else. Robin's father, Peter Gordon Gunningham (Peter Gordon Gunningham, 1942), is a retired former contract manager living in Whitehall, Bristol. Mother - Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones (Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones, 1941) - worked as a secretary and has never been outside the Bristol area of Clifton. She now works in a nursing home. The couple married on April 25, 1970 at Kingswood Wesley Methodist Church. On February 8, 1972, they had a daughter, Sarah, at the Bristol Maternity Hospital. By this time, Peter had been promoted and the family had bought their first home, an apartment in a semi-detached house in Bristol.
© Banksy
The house where Robin Gunningham lived as a child
On July 28, 1973, Robin was born in the same hospital. According to the testimony of neighbors, at an early age the boy underwent surgery, as he was born with a split palate. When Robin was ten, the family moved to a bigger house on the same street: it was there that Robin spent his school years and his hobby for graffiti began. A neighbor, Anthony Hallett, remembers how the couple, just getting married, came to this street and lived there until 1998. After that, they divorced. When we showed Mr. Hallett the photo from Jamaica, he said the person in the photo was Robin Gunningham.
In 1984, at the age of eleven, Robin wore a black jacket, gray trousers and striped tie and went to the famous Bristol Cathedral School, which now costs 9,240 pounds a year, and among former students - model Sophie Anderton (Sophie Anderton). It is difficult to imagine Banksy, always opposed to authority, as a public school student wandering through the former 17th-century convent, with its courtyard, galleries and worship services in the ancient cathedral. However, when we found a 1989 school photo, it turned out that Robin Gunningham was noticeably similar to the person in the picture from Jamaica. In addition, people who studied with Robin recall that he was a very gifted artist. Scott Nurse, an insurance agent who studied in the same class as Robin, said: “He was one of three guys in our parallel who were incredibly gifted in terms of art. He drew many illustrations. I wouldn't be surprised if he is Banksy. He was also on the rugby team and seems to have played hockey. "
Robin Gunningham at school, 1989
Bristol Cathedral and Cathedral School
In one of his rare interviews, which Banksy always gives anonymously, the artist admitted that he became interested in graffiti while still in school. In 1983, the New York hip-hop group Rock Steady Crew toured Europe: they performed at the annual British Royal Variety Performance gala with graffiti writers. Their performance made a lasting impression on the future Massive Attack group and Nick Walker, now a well-known artist and designer who created the scenery for the films Eyes Wide Shut ( Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick's last film, 1999 - approx. ed.) and Judge Dredd ( Judge Dredd is a fantastic action movie directed by Danny Cannon, filmed in 1995 - approx. ed.).
Banksy's fascination with art is said to have ruined his relationship with his family. Here is what a former neighbor, Mr. Hallett, said: “Their family has always been very pleasant. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that Robin was a graffiti artist. He worked for others and did not show up at home for months. He led a wandering lifestyle. I will not argue that he went off the rails, but his relationship with his family soured. Most likely, this happened due to the fact that he did not live up to their expectations. After he left home, he just disappeared. "
© Banksy
In 1985, the Bristol Arnolfini Gallery hosted an exhibition entitled "Graffiti Art In Britain": during the event, writers painted right on the walls of the gallery and the hip-hop group The Wild Bunch, which later became known as Massive Attack. In a 2006 interview with the pop culture magazine Swindle, Banksy said: “I come from a small town in the south of England. When I was ten years old, a guy named was constantly painting on the street. I think he went to New York and brought some graffiti from there. I grew up looking at graffiti on the streets of Bristol long before I saw graffiti in magazines or on my computer. 3D gave up painting and created the Massive Attack group: it was probably good for him, but for the city it was a loss. At school, we all loved graffiti. We drew on the bus on the way home. Literally everyone was doing graffiti. "
© Banksy
© Banksy
At the age of sixteen, Robin Gunningham, having passed the final exams and received a certificate, took up street art. The following year, as part of Operation Anderson, undercover police arrested seventy-two street artists across Britain and charged them with damages. Among those arrested was Tom Bingle, also known as Inkie, a graffiti artist believed to be Banksy's associates and now head of design at Sega, a computer game company. Bingle was tried, but ultimately acquitted. Robin Gunningham was not arrested. There is no mention of Banksy in the records. The artist himself admitted that he became an expert in avoiding meetings with the police.
© Banksy
In his book Wall And Piece, Banksy writes: “When I was eighteen, one night I tried to write in big silver letters on the side of the train:“ Late again. ” The transport police showed up, and I tore all my clothes to shreds as I ran through the thorny bushes. My comrades got to the car and drove away, and I spent more than an hour lying under a dump truck, from which oil was pouring on me. While I was lying there and listening to the police, I realized that I needed to cut the drawing time in half or tie it up. I looked at the stenciled lettering on the bottom of the fuel tank and realized that I could just copy that style and make the letters a meter high. Eventually I got home and climbed into bed. I told my girlfriend that I had an epiphany, and she told me to stop using drugs because it is "bad for the heart."
Banksy Book Wall And Piece
As the investigation progressed, our inquiries over and over again brought up facts that matched what was already known about Banksy. In 1998, Robin Gunningham lived in Bristol's Easton area with Luke Egan, who exhibited with Banksy at Santa's Ghetto, an art store that opened in London's West End in 2001. In spite of this, when we contacted Egan, he initially denied that he had rented an apartment with Banksy or Robin Gunningham. that he lived with Robin Gunningham. As a result, Egan said: "I rented an apartment with a guy named Robin Gunningham. But ..." - "You mean he was not Banksy?" "I wasn’t then. I lived with him for a long time. In any case, I don’t think Banksy existed at all then."
It is believed that Egan and Gunningham moved out of the apartment when the owner decided to sell the house. Camilla Stacey, curator of Here Gallery in Bristol, who bought the house in 2000, claims that Banksy and Robin Gunningham are the same person. She knows that Banksy lived in this house, because his works remained there, while letters addressed to Robin Gunningham came to her. “I bought the house that Banksy used to live in,” she says. - He rented a room, but, it seems to me, there were some troubles with other tenants, and the owner decided to sell it. When I drove into the house, everything was covered with graffiti and something. I threw it all away. At the time, Banksy was just another guy painting on the streets of Bristol. Another graffiti artist in Bristol. Sometimes, when I think about it, I can't sleep. " Indeed, who would not regret throwing away works that today would most likely cost tens of thousands?
Work created at Walls On Fire in Bristol, 1998.
In 1998, Banksy and Inky, along with other artists, organized the Walls On Fire project: they painted a 365-meter fence in Bristol's port. In an unofficial biography of Banksy, Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home, by local writer Steve Wright, Inca is quoted as saying: “I helped Banksy organize the event, but then left into the shade and got drunk, if I don't confuse anything. "
"Soft, soft West." © Banksy
In 1999, Banksy painted in Bristol, Stokes Croft in Easton, on the wall opposite the Subway Records store, a work called Soft, Soft West ( Mild Mild West - obviously, the stable phrase Wild Wild West is being played up - "wild, wild West" - approx. ed.), which depicts a teddy bear with a Molotov cocktail in his hand. Jim Paine, founder of Subway Records, held the ladder. “I met Banksy some time before that, in the mid to late 1990s - he was renting a room in Easton, a couple of streets away from me,” he says in Wrights' book.
"An entire state under video surveillance." © Banksy
Buy before you fall. © Banksy
After living for some time in London, in February 2000 Banksy returned to Bristol for his first exhibition. It took place at the Severnshed restaurant, a former boathouse designed by Brunel ( Isambard Kingdom Brunel - a famous British engineer who lived in the 19th century, one of the major figures in the history of the Industrial Revolution - approx. ed.). All works were sold on the opening day of the exhibition. “This is the first time in his life he has done canvas work,” curator Robert Birse told us last week. - He had no idea how to stretch the canvas or prepare the work for the exhibition, but he clearly knew what he wanted to do. I don't even know his name. He has a set of pseudonyms that he uses with the people with whom he works, but then he only allowed his old comrades to work. I think I paid him in cash [for the works sold at the exhibition]. I could write a check without a name or pay in cash. "
In the early 2000s, Banksy moved to London - and again this coincides with the time of Robin Gunningham's move. Robin lived in East London, Hackney, on Kingsland Road. He shared an apartment with Jamie Eastman, who worked for the Bristol record company Hombre. Banksy has designed several album covers for the albums released by this company.
1998 cover © Banksy
Cover of 2000 © Banksy
In 2001, Banksy held the first unofficial exhibition in London, during which he sprayed twelve works on the washed tunnel walls on Rivington Street in the Shoreditch area of Hackney (Rivington, Shoreditch). However, the world fame was brought to him by the exhibition Turf War ( English "war for territory", "struggle for power"), which took place in July 2003 in a warehouse located literally meters from the apartment rented by Robin Gunningham. The exhibition featured live pigs and cows, one of which featured the many heads of Andy Warhol. The Queen of England was depicted as a monkey. An animal rights activist chained herself to a fence in protest, but the Royal Society for the Fight Against Cruelty to Animals allowed the exhibition to be held. In the same year, Banksy, pretending to be a pensioner, came to the Tate Modern gallery Edouard Manet painting " Parody of the painting by E. Manet "Breakfast on the Grass". © Banksy
Robin's mother, Pamela, lives in a neat one-story house in a village near Bristol. After explaining that we are journalists, we asked if she had a son named Robin. She reacted very strangely. We showed her a photo from Jamaica. It was evident that she was dumbfounded, while she said that she did not recognize the person from the photograph, who, by the way, was very similar to her. We asked if she could help us get in touch with him. She replied, "I'm afraid I don't know how to contact him." So she still has a son named Robin? “No, no. I don’t have a son at all. ” We asked if she had children. "Yes, there is a daughter." But doesn't she have a son who went to Bristol Cathedral School? "Not". She began to deny that she was Pamela Gunningham, insisting that there was a mistake on the electoral lists.
Works created for the album Think Tank by Blur. © Banksy
"Girl-astronaut and a bird"
A conversation with Peter Gunningham, who now lives in the Kingsdown suburb of Bristol, also puzzled us. We showed a photo of Banksy / Robin Gunningham. Mr Gunningham said he would not recognize the person in the picture. We said we thought his son was Banksy. He replied, “No. I'm afraid I really can't help you. " Mr. Gunninghay continued to politely deny that his son was Banksy, without appearing to be very serious. He refused to say anything about Robin. It was all very strange. If they had never heard of Banksy or Robin Gunningham, they would be at a loss. But something was wrong here. Then we contacted the person in charge of Banksy's public relations, and he, in the best traditions of Banksy, did not confirm, but did not deny our story and promised to contact us. When the material went to press, we were still waiting for his reply.
Banksy once told Swindle magazine, “I'm not interested in revealing my identity. It seems to me that there are already enough arrogant idiots who are trying to block you with their ugly faces. " Given that Banksy has been successfully covering our tracks for a very long time, it is certainly possible that the trail we followed was false, that it was a well-thought-out deception. But if so, then this is the most elaborate trick scheme ever invented. And if so, where is Robin Gunningham?
But the art of graffiti has grown, has matured and received a new name street art. He is exhibited in museums and fashion galleries, and people are willing to pay big money for these works. At the auctions of contemporary art, street art is breaking value records, virtually uniting high and low art, separated from each other for centuries.This primarily concerns Banksy (and the iconic Jean-Michel Basquiat).
Banksy is an artist who is rapidly growing into legends, the interest in him is enormous, and any work he does instantly becomes famous. His talent is recognized by everyone and no one is left indifferent by his sharp, socially oriented works. This is a fantastic artist! Christy andSotheby'shappy to arrange auctions where his work is present. The popularity of Banksy is so great that works are sold at a price 3-5 times higher than the starting price, which is very high. I suggest you look at the TOP 15 most expensive works by Banksy in recent years.
First job. What did Banksy do? He takes a canvas with a painting by an unknown artist, and puts his stencil on him. The painting "Bird with a Pomegranate", a starting estimate of £ 50,000, went for £ 145,250 ($ 228,043).
Title: Keep It Spotlessly Clean (Defaced Hirst)
Signed and dated 2007. Pharmaceutical work by Damien Hirst. Painting, which Banksy made his changes.
Sotheby's (RED) New York auction
Estimate: 250,000 - 350,000 USD Sold for: 1,870,000 USD
Title: Simple Intelligence Testing.
Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 GBP Sold for: 636,500 GBP (1,265,120 USD)
Estimate: 150,000 - 200,000 GBP Sold for: 320,900 GBP (658,025 USD)
Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD Sold for: 605 000 US D
Space girl and bird.
Sold for: 288,000 GBP (575,813 USD)
Queen Victoria - $ 478,095
Estimate: 250,000 - 350,000 GBP Sold for: 277,250 GBP (478,095 USD)
Insane Clown - $ 481,165
David - $ 416,742
Jar - $ 382 140
$ 266 061
Think Tank - $ 307,237
$ 286 217
$ 249 249
$ 230 500
Of course, he has more expensive works, you can see it in full
1. A dancer poses for an art installation by a British street artist known as Banksy at the door of the Hustler Club in New York. (Photo by Eric Thayer / Reuters)
2. In the gallery of a Palestinian artist, you can find the door of an old ruined house that Banksy painted. The door was bought by a gallery owner in the Khan Yunis site in the south of the Gaza Strip. The owner of the door never found out that he had sold a real work of modern art, which could have cost a fortune. The owner of the gallery got the door for only $ 175. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters)
3. A woman from Palestine walks past the spot where the very door that Banksy painted was taken from. (Photo by Mohammed Salem / Reuters)
4. Polly Dreezer, a three-year-old girl, looks at the graffiti painted on the wall of the UK Government Communications Center in Cheltenham, West England. The British media have linked this new Banksy work to a hint of a recent scandal that erupted over the fault of Edward Snowden. According to the information provided by him, the UK DSP has full access to international fiber-optic networks and transfers all personal data to the NSA. (Photo by Eddie Keogh / Reuters)
5. A dog urinates on a new work by British street artist Banksy in New York. (Photo by Mike Segar / Reuters)
6. Graffiti painted on a wall next to Regent's Canal in Camden, London. (Photo by Luke MacGregor / Reuters)
7. This playful kitten is presumably the work of Banksy too. He is depicted on the ruins of a house damaged in the Israeli shelling of the city of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. (Photo by Suhaib Salem / Reuters)
8. Stone sculpture created by Banksy in Queens, New York. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)
9. A woman walks past a graffiti painted by the elusive British street artist Banksy in a neighborhood in San Francisco. (Photo by Robert Galbraith / Reuters)
10. The guy jokingly poses next to Banksy's new job in New York. (Photo by Carlo Allegri / Reuters)
11. A woman is photographed next to a Banksy graffiti entitled "The Girl with the Pierced Eardrum," Bristol, West England. (Photo by Andrew Winning / Reuters)
12. Graffiti painted by Banksy in the city of Beit Hanoun in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Suhaib Salem / Reuters)
13. A couple sits on a rooftop near the graffiti painted by Banksy, San Francisco. (Photo by Robert Galbraith / Reuters)
14. A woman walks past graffiti painted on a wall in north London. This drawing is believed to belong to Banksy. (Photo Toby Melville / Reuters)
15. A Palestinian boy walks past one of the Bjnxi drawings near the Kalandia checkpoint in the West Bank, Israel. (Photo by Reuters / Stringer)
16. Banksy's new work decorates a wall near the financial center of London. (Photo by Finbarr O "Reilly / Reuters)
17. A child poses for the camera next to the new Banksy graffiti in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Carlo Allegri / Reuters)
18. A Palestinian boy looks at a drawing by Banksy, painted as part of the Christmas exhibition in Bethlehem. (Photo by Ammar Awad / Reuters)
19. A man walks by Banksy, London, 2007. (Photo by Luke MacGregor / Reuters)
20. In this graffiti, Banksy shows a little girl with dynamite hidden inside an ice cream, London, 2003. (Photo by Reuters / Stringer)
21. Fresh work by Banksy, which can be seen on a wall in the Coney Island area of New York. (Photo by Brendan McDermid / Reuters)
22. A Palestinian woman walks with her children past the Banksy graffiti, Aram, West Bank. (Photo by Ammar Awad / Reuters)
23. Another work, also attributed to Banksy, is located on a wall in Portobello Road, west London. (Photo by Dylan Martinez / Reuters)
24. Graffiti on a wall next to Regent's Canal in Camden, London. (Photo by Luke MacGregor / Reuters)
25. Amusing art installation by Banksy in New York, 2008. (Photo by Lucas Jackson / Reuters)
On June 2, the first exhibition in Russia of Banksy, the most famous and most elusive street artist in the world, will open at the Central House of Artists. Until now, no one knows for certain who is hiding behind this pseudonym, although Banksy was repeatedly caught, imprisoned and "exposed". TASS has studied the most plausible theories about the personality of the artist.
The recluse from Bristol
"White, 28 years old, dressed sloppy - jeans, T-shirt, silver tooth, silver chain, silver earring. Looks like something between Jimmy Neil and Mike Skinner of The Streets" - this is how Banksy described in 2003 The Guardian journalist Simon Hattenstone, who managed to communicate with the artist face to face. Since then, Banksy has not shown his face to reporters. And thus only fueled the interest of the press and conspiracy theorists in his person.
In 2016, British scientists took up the search for the number one street artist. Experts from Queen Mary University of London said they calculated it using the method of geographic profiling - a systematic analysis of the places where Banksy created his work. A similar method is used, in particular, by policemen hunting for serial killers. Geographic profiling assumes that offenders commit offenses close to their place of residence. Accordingly, the analysis of the geography of crimes allows us to detect the place of residence of the attacker, as well as the places that he most often visits.
To find Banksy, scientists brought in criminologists and former detectives from several countries. The study was based on the hypothesis that Banksy is a graduate of a public school in Bristol, Robin Cunningham, about whom the British tabloids wrote back in 2008. The sample of scientists included 140 works in London and Bristol, belonging to a street artist. In the course of the analysis, it turned out that their locations coincide with the pubs, football fields and home addresses where Cunningham lived or often visited.
“We had ten most likely suspects, but it quickly became apparent that only one candidate was seriously worth considering, and now everyone knows who it is,” one of the study's authors, Steve Le Combert, told the BBC. He also admitted that he had long been a fan of Banksy and guessed that he was Robin Cunningham.
At the time of publication of the investigation, many feared that Cunningham would be charged with "criminal vandalism", which is how graffiti is regarded in the UK. It is known that Banksy's lawyers contacted the authors of the report and tried to find out exactly how the scientists' conclusions would be presented to the media. After all, such surveillance can be regarded as a violation of the right to privacy.
Banksy-Cunningham was speculated back in 2008. He was recognized by his former schoolmates in photography, which was taken several years ago in Jamaica, when the artist was working on his next work. Banksy representatives, of course, denied this information.
The Mail on Sunday, which spent a year investigating Banksy's identity, wrote that the family of Cunningham and his wife, Joy Millward, led a life of real recluses. They do not communicate much with neighbors, and Millward's relatives know about her wife only that he makes a living by illustrating cookbooks and designing for various events - this allegedly explained his frequent absences. Curiously, the wife of the alleged Banksy - one of the main critics of the British establishment - at that time worked in a group that lobbied for the interests of charitable organizations in the British Parliament.
Anonymity attack
The theory that Banksy is Cunningham was challenged in the same 2016. The Daily Mail journalist Craig Williams said that the pseudonym is not a cookbook designer, but a member of the trip-hop group Massive Attack Robert "3D" Del Naya. Having studied the routes of Massive Attack tours over 12 years, the journalist found out that Banksy's works appeared in those cities where the group performed. At the same time, Williams admitted that Banksy's graffiti is a collective work of several artists.
However, there were even more coincidences. Del Naya, like Banksy, a native of Bristol, has been involved in graffiti since the 1980s and was a member of the street art group The Wild Bunch. He is known for pioneering the Bristol stencil graffiti that is considered Banksy's trademark. Del Naya has independently designed all the covers for the Massive Attack albums, and when looking at Heligoland (2010) it really seems that this is the work of his alleged alter ego.
If Del Naya and Banksy are not one person, then at least they are closely related people. The Massive Attack member admitted that the artist was his "friend" who came to listen to "a couple of concerts". Del Naya was featured in Banksy's documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, and he wrote the foreword for the musician's book 3D and the Art of Massive Attack. They are tied by mutual friends, such as the music producer Jeff Barrow of Portishead, who wrote the soundtrack for Exit…. Massive Attack music also accompanied the opening of the hotel, which Banksy had built on the border between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In 2017, Del Nye's secret was finally revealed by his friend, British DJ Goldie. "Take a graffiti font, write on a Banksy T-shirt and you can sell it. With all due respect to Robert, I think he is a wonderful artist, he changed the art world," the musician said in an interview. Subsequently, he turned everything into a joke, but did not refute his words. The most inquisitive conspiracy theorists noticed that the name "Robert" was pronounced by him indistinctly and sounded almost like "Rob". This means that under the guise of Banksy, both Robert Del Naya and Robin Cunningham can be hiding. Or none of them.
From rats to Oscars
Banksy took up graffiti at age 14. In the late 1990s, he painted the walls of his native Bristol as part of the DryBreadZ Crew. Over time, his ideas became larger and larger, and it became more and more difficult for him to leave the police. One day, hiding from the law enforcement officers, he decided to start using stencils to save time. This is how the unique style of Banksy was born, which is characterized by minimalistic monochrome drawings (often with some bright detail or red lettering), and invariably - on acutely social themes.
Images of rats have become the artist's trademark. One of Banksy's friends suggested that he chose this beast for a reason: the word "rat" (rat) is an anagram of the word "art" ("art"). True, in his book Wall and Piece Banksy admitted that he realized this fact years after he began to depict rodents on the walls of cities.
Over the years, Banksy has significantly expanded the geography of his work and created unique masterpieces of graffiti in London, New York, Barcelona, Berlin, Tel Aviv and dozens of other cities around the world. His works are now so popular that they are carved along with the walls and sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at international auctions (on average, they are estimated at over $ 500 thousand). However, the artist himself does not approve of the monetization of his work, believing that art should be the property of the entire society.
Banksy is not limited to airbrushing - he also deals with performances and large-scale installations. In 2015, the artist opened the Dismaland park (from the English dismal, which means "gloomy", a kind of anti-Disneyland). Four years earlier, he received an Academy Award nomination for his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, which tells less about Banksy than about the creative path of the artist Thierry Guetta under the pseudonym Mr. Brainwash. After the release of this film, countless theories about the personality of Banksy appeared: fans tried to find "Easter eggs" in the movie that could open the veil of secrecy, and some even believed that Thierry Guetta was Banksy. Before that, there were theories that "in the world" Banksy works as a butcher, and also that under this pseudonym it is not an artist who operates, but an artist.
Arthur Gromov
