Who is Banksy? Top Theories on the Internet

Banksy is a well-heard name in the field of art but no one in today’s generation knows what he is exactly as a person. This artist is known for doing his work silently across the world and painting this world with his unique thoughts, however, his thoughts have always been a power factor that has changed in almost every corner of the world.

Banksy who is always known for his art is also known for maintaining secrecy. He does all his work without coming into people’s eyes and still manages to get the headlines. Apart from being anonymous, some people like his work and pay a hefty amount to buy it and others think he is impacting people negatively with his paintings.

Who is Banksy?

Banksy is a well-known street artist known for his artwork, this artist has done various works across the world and his paintings are sold for millions in different auctions. Banksy always likes to keep his identity personal and his identity never came through any news channels or social media pages. He always shares his artwork through his social media and claims them to be his. His paintings mostly cover social problems and he is also known to make strong political statements.

What Do We Know About Banksy For Sure?

What we exactly know about this artist is from the city of Bristol, United Kingdom from where he has gained fame by majoring in his art through the year 1990s. He then moved to different places worldwide to make his name as a wonderful street artist across the globe.

His one of the oldest paintings on the wall was THE MILD MILD WEST which was painted in the year 1999 in Bristol’s Stokes Croft, this huge painting majorly shows a large teddy bear who is throwing Molotov cocktail on three riot police persons and this picture took him three constant days and also he painted this in the daylight without having fear of arrest.

In one of his anonymous interviews in the year 2006, he said that he came from a very small city of southern England and he was only 10 years old when he saw someone painting the street walls with difficulty. He became the first person who brought spray painting in Bristol.

The Theory Surrounding His Identity

There were different theories surrounding his identity and work, everyone knows him in a different way and has a different perspective for everything. Some of the well known theories are:

Robin Gunningham

One of the most known theories of him suggests that this artist is known by the name of “Robin Gunningham”. Robin Gunningham was known to be born in the year 1973 in yate which is in the outskirts of Bristols, many of his classmates think that Banksy is none other than Robin Gunningham because Gunningham is known to be a talented kid during his school times who always drawing during his school period and Banksy has said that his love toward his art has majorly developed during his school days.

In the year 2016 there was one criminologist at the Queen Mark university who tried to track Gunningham and how he is connected with Branksy. Criminologists usually use the data to identify criminals but nothing like that ever happened because Banksy’s lawyers contacted the court for using public stuff for interfering with anyone’s personal life.

Also apart from this one image of Robin Gunningham has been taken with a spray can and stencils in his hand which people think that he is Banksy. This rumour was so much spread in the market during that time because of which his painting got sold in one of the auctions at around EUR 4000.

Robert Del Naja

Some of the other theories are Robert Del Naja who people think is Banksy, Robert was already a graffiti artist and he has worked in Bristol many years under the name 3D. This theory was made for the first time when DJ Goldie mistakenly named Banksy in one of the podcasts when he was discussing street artists. He said “No disrespect to Rob, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over”, where people think that Rob was Robert Del Naja but this theory of people was highly denied by Robert Del Naja in public.

Jamie Hewlett

Another one of the most rumored theories about people is that the founder of Gorillaz , Jamie Hewlett is the man behind the name Banksy. People have made their theory after one of the reports claimed that Banksy is also connected with the same companies that Jamie is connected to and people confirmed this news after knowing that this artist has also produced his work which was used in the band’s music videos.

But this news was highly denied by Banksy’s publicist, Also in the year 2018 a person claimed that he had seen Banksy, in a recent installation work in the city of Hull. But this news was not just enough to clearly make his face using any sort of technology.

Why Does Banksy Keep His Identity a Secret?

Banksy has a lot of friends who pay thousands of money to purchase his work but a lot of people also think that some of his work is illegal. His work is done anonymously and without any permission and he claims his work after his art dried up from people’s eyes.

This anonymous character has added a lot in Banksy’s profile, first it let the artist freely enjoy his life but in of the places Banksy’s work has been classified as an act of societal damage or criminal damage. People often think that if Banksy’s will collect people after installing his art then it would less impact people.

Conclusion

In the above blog, we have seen about how Banksy has succeeded in keeping himself safe from people’s eyes and the different theories that everyone around the world has made about Banksy’s Identity whether it is Gunningham or Robert or Jamie. Some of them have denied being Banksy and some have taken advantage of his name by selling their art using his fame.

People from different parts of the world are eager to purchase his art work but some also think he is making a bad impact on other people through his artwork and it could less impact people’s life if he himself addresses his audience.

FAQs – Who is Banksy

1. Is Banksy really Robin Gunningham?

Answer:

The theory that Banksy is Robin Gunningham is the most popular one because according to his classmate Gunningham is known to be a talented artist from Bristol, the same city as Bansy is from. However, no major evidence has proven this theory, and Banksy’s lawyers have taken legal action to protect his anonymity.

2. Is Banksy’s work always legal?

Answer:

No, some of Banksy’s work is illegal because he always does his work anonymously and without any permission. While many appreciate his art, it can also be viewed as an act of societal or criminal damage because he never addresses the audience about his art work.

3. How can someone purchase Banksy’s artwork?

Answer:

People highly find Banksy’s artwork and some pieces of his artwork used to get sold at auctions for a hefty amount. People who want to purchase his art can potentially purchase his work through reputable art dealers and auction houses, but they need to be cautious of fake or illegal pieces.

4. What kind of art does Banksy create?

Answer:

Banksy’s art mainly focuses on social issues and often makes strong political statements through his work.

5. Has anyone tried to uncover Banksy’s identity through criminology methods?

Answer:

Yes, in 2016, a criminologist attempted to connect Robin Gunningham to Banksy but Banksy’s lawyers intervened and filed a case which stopped further investigation.