Banksy is one of the few living artists who can truly be called a household name. His satirical, politically-charged graffiti can be found everywhere from New York City to the Gaza Strip, and his immediately recognizable works such as Girl With Balloon have earned him a loyal worldwide cult following.
People have been speculating over who he could be for years, but none of these theories have ever been proven. And despite this anonymity, the verified works attributed to him continue to sell for huge sums of money. Which begs the question — if no one knows his real identity, how does Banksy actually make money? Banksy kicked off his career in the s, and has managed to keep his identity under wraps in the decades since. It's purely a matter of logistics and coincidence, nothing more than that.
For instance, in April Banksy's work appeared in Melbourne, where the band had played a month before. And according to Williams' investigation, six Banksy murals were reported in San Francisco on 1 May Massive Attack had played two nights in the city that April. Update: Goldie is apparently laughing the incident off, tweeting that he and 3D are "pissing [our] pants" at the frenzy his interview caused.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. As mentioned above, Del Naja is already a graffiti artist and spent many years working in Bristol under the name of 3D, who Banksy cites as one of his earliest inspirations.
I think he has flipped the world of art over. The Del Naja theory was strengthened after fans were able to link two occasions where new Banksy works had appeared in the same city where Massive Attack were playing. However, unlike Gunningham, Del Naja has publicly denied the claims. Other rumours over the years have claimed Gorillaz founder Jamie Hewlett is the man behind the artwork, after an anonymous forensic expert claimed paperwork reportedly showed him to be linked to every company Banksy is connected with.
There have been many "sightings" of Banksy over the years, most recently he was spotted donning PPE while installing his latest work on the London Underground. Back in , a passerby also claimed to spot him close to a recently installed work in the city of Hull.
However, these sightings have not been enough to clearly make out his face. It is also unclear whether Banksy installs all his works himself, or uses a team to help.
While his anonymity of course adds an element of intrigue to his work, ultimately, it acts as a layer of protection for the artist, as in many places his work is classified as criminal damage. Also, given his status, it is likely his work would offer less impact if he was to garner a crowd as it was being installed. A version of this article first appeared online on July 15, Who is Banksy? The top theories and how he keeps his identity a secret He might be one of the most famous names in the art world, but the same can't be said for the man himself.
One theory that has long done the rounds is that rather than being a single lone artist, Banksy is in fact a number of people. Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer. In Depth. The Week Unwrapped podcast: Banksy, intervention and refugee art.
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