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Who is Banksy? 10 Myths About The World’s Most Talked About Artist

As one of the most elusive figures on the contemporary art scene, Banksy continues to be the subject of news stories and rumours. Mostly, these debate his true identity and above all else, the question lingers: "Who is Banksy?" While some believe him to be a member of the band Massive Attack, others have speculated that he is not, in fact, one person but many; meanwhile there are still those who believe the artist to be a woman. Here we take a look at some of these rumoured identities as well as other myths circling Banksy’s name…

1. Is Banksy Massive Attack band member Robert del Naja?
The media and the public have been speculating over Banksy’s identity since the early 2000s, when he first broke onto the scene. For a long time, the most likely candidate appeared to be Robert del Naja of Massive Attack, who also grew up in Banksy’s hometown of Bristol. Further proof is suggested by the appearance of Banksy murals in places where the band has toured. But the most convincing evidence comes thanks to DJ Goldie who accidentally called Banksy ‘Robert’ during a podcast in 2017. Others have claimed del Naja is in fact just the leader of a team of graffiti artists but the picture remains unclear to this day, with Banksy’s lawyers neither confirming nor denying these allegations.

3. He was denied access to the Oscars
This one is true! In 2011, Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop was nominated in the best documentary category at the Oscars. Naturally, the artist would never be able to attend the event as his true self so he reportedly requested permission to attend wearing a monkey mask only to be turned down for fear of multiple imposters turning up on the night.

4. What is Banksy's gender?
Some believe Banksy must be a woman, contrary to popular belief. This was claimed by a number of people but most famously by Canadian artist Chris Healey who believed Banksy was a team of seven artists led by a blonde woman who can be seen in Banksy’s studio in his documentary. This is widely considered to be implausible, however website Atlantic City Lab did back up the claim saying, “Girls and women figure into Banksy’s stencilled figures, for starters, something that isn’t true of 99% of street art.”

5. Banksy is actually King Robbo
When Banksy painted over a King Robbo mural in London in 2009, the artist sparked a feud which made headlines and brought the lesser-known tagger to new heights of fame on the street and in the art world. While the rivalry continued for some time, with each artist painting over the other’s work until Banksy eventually backed down, some speculated if the two were perhaps the same person, out to get even more publicity with a fake ‘graffiti war’. Of course this theory was later disproved as King Robbo – or John Robertson as he is legally known – died in 2014, while Banksy continues to remain active both on the street and online.

6. Banksy was arrested and had his identity revealed
In 2014 a story broke out saying that Banksy had been arrested by an ‘Anti-Graffiti Task Force’ and his identity revealed as Liverpudlian Paul Horner. In fact Horner engineered the whole thing but the news quickly gained traction and before you could say ‘fake news’ a number of newspapers and websites had begun broadcasting the story without fact-checking it first.

7. Banksy’s pseudonymous nickname comes from his football prowess
In Banksy Myths & Legends, Marc Leverton writes that Banksy earned his ‘tag’ through his skills as a goalkeeper, receiving the nickname ‘Banksy’ by his teammates after the England goalkeeper Gordon Banks. Other sources claim however that his earliest tag was ‘Robin Banx’ which later became the more catchy ‘Banksy’.

10. Is Banksy Bristolian Robin Gunningham?
Okay, so this one might be true. Recently criminologists at Queen Mary University used a tool called ‘geoprofiling’ to map the movements of a man named Robin Gunningham to those of Banksy according to where his latest murals had popped up. While this seemed like definitive proof, Banksy and his lawyers have never accepted or rejected the claim, preferring to leave the papers and the public guessing. As the artist himself has said, “If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.”

In this work, Banksy plays upon one of the world's most famous paintings, The Mona Lisa (1503-4). Although in his piece, the female protagonist wears a headset while aiming a rocket launcher in his typical black and white stencil style. The piece first appeared in the Soho district of West London.

While Banksy's juxtaposition of art history's most famous female with a powerful modern weapon may certainly be cheeky, there is more that can be read into the image. While da Vinci's Mona Lisa appears graceful and passive, Banksy gives her a powerful, confrontational, and active sensibility. Her facial expression remains just as calm as in the original, however, next to the powerful weapon, her welcoming smile is menacing, in a much more horrific manner. It can also be read as a statement on how blasé citizens have become to the ongoing realities of war, always taking place somewhere far removed from their own tranquil lives.

This work, now covered and protected by a Perspex overlay, features a man dressed up in what we associate with traditional riot gear, with a bandana obscuring his face, and his cap on back-to-front. His stance is one of a person about to lob a Molotov cocktail; he's taking aim and is ready to throw his weapon. However, instead of a weapon, he holds a bunch of flowers (which are the only part of the mural to appear in color.) This piece is located on a wall on the side of a garage in Jerusalem on the main road to Beit Sahour, Bethlehem.

By substituting a weapon with a bunch of flowers, Banksy is advocating for peace, and he opted to install this particular message in a high-conflict area. The work also carries the message idea that peace comes with active hard work. In addition, the bouquet may as also represent a commemoration of lives lost in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and thus, his use of art to relay messages of social importance.

Again, Banksy has taken a pre-existing image - in this case an iconic photograph from Vietnam in 1972, of a girl - Kim Phuc - fleeing from a napalm attack on her village. The original photograph was taken by associated press photographer Nick Ut and has developed into a short hand for the atrocities of the Vietnam War. Banksy has isolated the image of the horror-stricken girl (originally surrounded by a few other clothed children and seven soldiers running down a road away from the site of the napalm attack) and flanked her with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. These two instantly recognizable, smiling characters, when juxtaposed with the image of Napalm Girl, give the image a very twisted and sinister feel.

Both Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are two family-friendly faces of American capitalism, the same country that dropped Napalm on Vietnam. Banksy's work then becomes a critique of not just America but also of capitalism. The girl's horror-stricken face is juxtaposed against the two characters' big, bright smiles. In this simple image, Banksy shows both the fun, carefree facade of American culture, and the reality that America also has a very dark, underbelly which drops bombs on people, and both commercializes and glamorizes war. Banksy once stated that "The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages."

This work by Banksy refigures the iconic Impressionist painting Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies (1899) by Claude Monet. Monet's original reveals a tranquil scene of his own garden, with rich vegetation reflected in the calm water. Banksy has replicated Monet's original painting almost exactly, using the same materials as Monet, however Banksy has added two discarded shopping carts and a traffic cone to the pond.

By using shopping carts, an image associated with consumerism, Banksy’s message is that society is focused on material goods, buying more than is necessary in a futile attempt to make itself feel happy and fulfilled. Moreover, by representing these man-made objects as discarded in an otherwise beautiful setting, he critiques contemporary society's disregard for nature in favor of commodity fetishism and the production of excessive waste. Even in the title Banksy has subverted the meaning of the Impressionist painting, with the word "money" being a play on "Monet".

This work on Newman Street in London was painted on the wall of a building used by the Royal Mail. At the bottom right, a child in a red hooded sweatshirt, black shorts, and a grey backpack, is seen painting the phrase "ONE NATION UNDER CCTV" while being watched by a police officer and a dog at the bottom left.

The mural was situated in the line of sight of a CCTV camera. In fact, Banksy managed to erect three stories of scaffolding under the cover of darkness to create the entire artwork in one night. This work aims to criticize the excessive surveillance (both from CCTV cameras in public spaces, as well as in other forms such as online) that has recently become a controversial issue both in the UK and abroad. Banksy has done other works that aim to "tease" security cameras, for instance by stenciling the words "what are you looking at?" on a blank wall faced by a CCTV camera.

The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work would be painted over, regardless of the celebrity status of the artist, as it was illegal graffiti. The council stated that Banksy "has no more right to paint graffiti than a child." Robert Davis, the chairman of the council planning committee told The Times, "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art." The work was eventually painted over in April 2009.

The condemning of Street Art as illegal vandalism, and its frequent removal, has been the focus of many other works by Banksy. But on the other hand, the fact that many of his works get removed shortly after their creation adds to the excitement and fanaticism that surrounds Banksy's work. Banksy biographer Will Ellsworth-Jones wrote in 2013 that Banksy "is an artist who has got people running around the city desperate to see his work before it gets painted over."

Required

“If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.” - Banksy

Use specific information from any of these sources to explain what you think Banksy meant by this quote. Why do you think Banksy says you have to live a lie in order to be honest? What evidence is there that Banksy is living a lie in order to be honest? How would Banksy's situation be different if his identity was revealed?