Banksy's 'real name revealed in 26-year-old police report'

[Celerity]

An investigation has linked the elusive graffiti artist to a misdemeanour committed by Robin Gunningham in New York in 2000

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/art/article/banksys-real-name-revealed-in-26-year-old-police-report-2lxssfgml

https://archive.li/BzL5T



A news agency says it has uncovered the identity of Banksy, the world’s most famous graffiti artist, after an investigation led to a 26-year-old police report. The artist, who has left his mark on the world’s streets for three decades, has been named by Reuters as Robin Gunningham, after it discovered records of a misdemeanour committed in New York in 2000.

It has long been speculated that this is the real name of Banksy, who emerged from the Bristol art scene to become one of the world’s most famous artists. The investigation by Reuters also states that Gunningham then changed his legal name to David Jones, one of the most common names in Britain.



Under this name, it was reported that the artist had travelled to Ukraine, where he painted murals. Immigration records cited by Reuters said that this David Jones had left Ukraine in October 2022 on the same day as Robert del Naja, a founding member of Massive Attack, who is known to have moved in similar circles to Banksy.

It said that the date on Jones’s passport matched that on the documents of Gunningham. Banksy’s real identity has been a conundrum ever since he appeared on the British art scene. Those who know his real identity, such as his former manager, Steve Lazarides, who subsequently fell out with the artist, have repeatedly preserved his anonymity.

snip



snip


related:



https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-art-banksy/


This Banksy mural of a man scrubbing his back in a bathtub appeared in 2022 on a wall of a destroyed building in the Ukrainian village of Horenka. The mural piqued the interest of a Reuters journalist, setting off an effort to identify and understand the elusive artist. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

[underpants]

1. As great as his art is, this has fascinated me.

Thanks.

[Celerity]

22. Banksy: Street artist 'confirms' first name in lost 2003 BBC interview

A lost BBC interview with street artist Banksy has been unearthed in which the mysterious artist appears to reveal what his first name is.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67449087



In the 2003 recording, BBC reporter Nigel Wrench asks him if he is called "Robert Banks", and the artist replies: "It's Robbie." This has long been the subject of speculation online, with variations of Robin, Robert and Robbie suggested.

The full interview can be heard on BBC Sounds as Radio 4's The Banksy Story. A bonus episode of the podcast was specially recorded after the recording was discovered.

It also includes Banksy comparing his approach to art - which involves producing graffiti undercover at speed - to microwaving meals. "It's quick," the Bristol artist said, adding: "I want to get it done and dusted."

It is one of the earliest known radio interviews with the artist, who is often described as "mysterious" and "secretive" by the press. Banksy's real identity has never been revealed, but the interview gives his fans, which include many A-list celebrities, a rare chance to hear his voice.

sip

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Interesting Stuff

I wonder how much of the value attached to his works is rooted in the mystery/anonymity.
I guess we'll see.

[Raftergirl]

3. We just saw a large Banksy exhibit when we were in SoCal last week. It was fabulous. Highly recommend

if it comes to wherever you live.

[EarthFirst]

4. Some things are better left unknown...

I’m of the opinion that this is one of them.

The mystique was part of the depth of these pieces…

[femmedem]

5. Agreed. And this may endanger him and curtail his art. n/t

[niyad]

6. Why??? I understand about mystique and all that, but seriously??

All that time and energy might have been spent on. .oh, maybe. .all the scum in the trumpstein files, all the people benefitting from this latest chapter in the ongoing, worldwide horror show, etc.., etc., etc.

Cui bono?

I truly hope this does not endanger Banksy in any way.

[IbogaProject]

7. He made a great silly film

Exit Through the Giftshop

[erronis]

8. Thanks! Will be trying to watch this soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_Through_the_Gift_Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a 2010 British documentary film directed by street artist Banksy. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles who, over several years, filmed a host of street artists at work, including Shepard Fairey and Banksy, but failed to do anything with the footage. Eventually, Banksy decided to use the footage to make a documentary, which includes new footage depicting Guetta's rise to fame as the artist "Mr. Brainwash". In addition to narration read by Rhys Ifans, the story is largely related by Banksy himself, whose face is obscured and voice altered to preserve his anonymity. Geoff Barrow composed the film's score, and Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours" plays during the opening and closing credits.[1] The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards.

Since its release, there has been extensive debate over whether the film is a genuine documentary or a mockumentary. When asked if the film was real, Banksy simply replied, "Yes."[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exit-through-the-gift-shop.jpg

[IbogaProject]

10. Thank you

I didn't have the energy to give more information with my post. Various street art techniques are demonstrated by major street artists so while there is a mockumentary element it is also part documentary.

[GreatGazoo]

12. What was silly about it?

It is one of the best docs ever made IMHO.

He didn't make it so much as take it over. He agreed to be featured in it only if he had "final cut" eg the ability to delete anything that would reveal his identity. He wound up take over the film production and release.

It has a lot to say about class dynamics, art, politics, free expression and commercialism. The sequence from Disneyland is like a spy movie.

The whole movie:

[IbogaProject]

14. I just wanted to get a post out before I'd had coffee

And it is a bit of a suprise how it goes. I didn't mean silly like trite, I meant lighthearted.

[GreatGazoo]

15. That makes sense

There is a dark humor about much of Banksy's work.

[RainCaster]

9. I've seen his works in Bristol

They make me smile.

[JohnnyRingo]

11. Leave him alone!

His anonymity is his signature. That and the public vulnerability of the piece are parts of what makes his art great.
He is perhaps the world's greatest graffiti artist, and I've watched a lot of freight trains rumble past me.

Graffiti art has always been about being known only by their tag.

[GreatGazoo]

13. 'Banksy' often comes up in Shakespeare discussions

because "William Shakespeare" is a pseudonym. People ask why the writer(s) behind some of the greatest works in the English language would hide behind a pseudonym (technically an allonym since the pseudonym got tied to a real person with a similar name, eg William Shakspere (pronounced "shack spur&quot ?

Why? Because people were arrested and tortured for writing. Plus a variety of other dynamics and nationalism and myth making. And as noted by others here -- anonymity enhances the mystique and the appeal.

For "Banksy" the pseudonym is both a shield and a sword. It shields him from the legal ramifications of graffiti and subversive politics while it also creates mystique and interest. His work achieved a larger than life status perhaps because it was not grounded or limited by being tied to one very human, very knowable person. I see that as overlapping with 'Shakespeare' s motivations and the way his 'Shakespeare' persona played out. Many people love the country boy with no college education myth of Shakespeare much more than they like any of the the most likely candidates.

There is a ton of documentation about William Shakspere of Stratford on Avon but what it shows is a person who could barely write their own name and left no letters, book, marginalia, etc. A semi-literate person whose neighbors and family never said they were the writer and whose alleged grave does not say "Shakespeare" and does not have a Shakespeare quote on it but rather has a crudely composed curse, eg "Cursed be he that moves my bones". "Experts" (Older Lit professors and tourism promoters) mostly ignore or spin the documentation and refer to "missing years" in the life of Shakspere. Oddly they use the lack of any documentation that links him to writing as a blank slate onto which they have built the myth.

[niyad]

16. Besides, we all know that Shakespeare was a woman.

[GreatGazoo]

18. That is a possibility

Mary Sidney or Qn Liz herself. Either of which would add yet another reason to use a pseudonym. A modern example is SE Hinton who published "The Outsiders" under that gender-ambiguous name rather than "Susan Hinton" because it was believed that high school boys would either not read or would be skeptical of that book if they knew it was written by a woman.

Who did write the works is a complex question which requires serious study of the politics, dynamics and writing of that era.

Who did not write the works is fairly simple -- it can't be a person who is directly documented as semi-literate and had no known contact with the titled people to whom the works are dedicated. Images of Shakspere's struggle to write his own name and in depth analysis of how semi-literate and illiterate person conducted real estate and other transactions here:

https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/TOX23_Hutchinson_Shaksperes_Signatures.pdf

[leftstreet]

25. Thanks for posting that

that pdf is long, but well worth the read

[GreatGazoo]

28. Glad you found interesting

I came back to the SAQ while researching Henry Hudson (c1565 - c1611) so all the context in that about how deals were recorded on paper, the wax seals, etc. was of interest. Hudson had four writers on board his final voyage in 1610/11. Hudson was connected to the London printing business, eg Richard Haklyut, which was very small at that time. At peak there were only 25 printers operating a total of less than 60 presses in all of England.

That whole period is really interesting because England is desperate to catch up with Spain. The English language as we know it starts to become standardized with the printing of the Geneva and King James Bibles. Printing of the First Shakespeare Folio in 1623 is also a factor. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a series of history books while imprisoned in the Tower of London (~1608) so there is a lot going on but it is happening among a relatively small group of people. It is like working on a jigsaw puzzle -- the more pieces you learn about the more you want the rest.

Lots of lawyers study Shakespeare in undergrad or grad school. Especially trial lawyers. Almost none of them accept the traditional biography. The SCOTUS held a mock trial in 1977 (?) and 3 of them came out in favor of "not Shakspere". The traditional bio goes somewhat unexamined until the revival of Shakespeare in 1769 when it was really pushed. By the American Revolution, history as a discipline is moving steadily toward science. Prior History had been a branch of Literature, eg of fiction and there was little emphasis or threshold for evaluating evidence. Nor was absolute truth necessarily the goal -- think 'Romulus and Remus' as the history of Rome. It is clearly myth. But by 1820 Thomas Jefferson is printing a version of the Bible with the miracles taken out. A more forensic approach to history emerges but the old legends are hard dislodge.

This is a good overview of how trial lawyers approach the SAQ:

[underpants]

23. I thought Francis Bacon was actually Shakespeare

[GreatGazoo]

27. Most of it seems to be by Edward de Vere.

His life matches up with Hamlet. His father had an acting troupe. He helped Arthur Golding translate "The Ovid" when he was child prodigy. About half the First Folio was never publicly performed before that publication, 1623. Meaning it was privately performed, eg for Qn Liz et al at Hampton Court Palace, aka "Avon" as in "sweet swan of Avon."

Thomas Heywood had some of his work published as "Shakespeare" and he complained.

The style and skill level is a good match for Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe was connected to English intelligence and no one outside that circle was a witness to his sketchy murder in 1593. He was allegedly stabbed in the eye in a private pub. Jokes were later made by other writers about being stabbed in the eye. The first "Shakespeare" stuff (Lucrece and Venus & Adonis) show up in 1593 and are referred to as "the first heir of my invention". All of which and more supports theories that the name was created for Marlowe.

Bacon has been eliminated despite his delicious name. Didn't write the works but made one hell of a great cheeseburger.

[maxsolomon]

17. Well, that's interesting I guess.

It doesn't change much.

[malaise]

19. K & R

for visibility

[bigtree]

20. looks like a cardboard template laying beside him

...already used it appears. A balloon?

Weird focus on a name instead of his art, but that's part of the game, I guess.

[Celerity]

21. maybe it is from Girl with a Balloon, which was from 2004, like the pic

https://www.kunstloft.com/magazine/banksy-graffiti-girl-with-balloon/

[underpants]

24. When he started shredding that right after it was bought was hilarious 😆

?si=AQamNpd_HPde7dyS


A half-shredded Banksy piece is auctioned for $25.4 million, a record for the artist

OCTOBER 14, 2021
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/14/1046134451/banksy-shredded-auction-sold-record

[walkingman]

26. There is no privacy these days. ☮