y

According to Goldie, the DJ and musician, an artist by the name of 'Robert' might well be the real Banksy.

In a podcast interview, Goldie appeared to let the cat out of the bag when he referred to an artist who worked with him on Graffiti projects in the late eighties and is also known as 3D. He was talking about Robert De Naja, although De Naja denies this. However, according to a National Report article, Banksy was arrested in 2014 and was identified as 35 year-old Paul Horner. However, after a five month investigation Journalist Craig Williams concluded that Banksy was actually a team of street artists with Del Naja as the ring leader. But to counter this, the Daily Mail and scientists at the Queen Mary University, using 'geographic profiling' say that a man called Paul Gunningham is the real Bansky. Who is right?

Regrettably by his own standards, Banksy is a failure because he has become so commercially successful. According to him, 'the graffiti artist is not supposed to be embraced that way.' But here are a few facts that are known about this elusive artist for you to chew over.

1. Banksy’s true identity has never been revealed.

2. Banksy is from Bristol, England, and Bristolian street artist Robert del Naja also known as 3D from the band Massive Attack, served as a source of inspiration to Banksy.

3. Much of his street art is a critical commentary on global issues, political authority and capitalism.

4. Initially, he drew freehand, but in 2000 he began using stencils, possibly for the sake of speed.

5. His first exhibition in 2000, was held at a restaurant in Bristol owned by pals.

6. At one of his most infamous exhibitions, Crude Oils, held in Notting Hill, were remixes of famous paintings adding various elements and motifs of his own. For added affect, 200 live rats that roamed freely within the gallery space.

7. In 2004, he produced what were later identified as Difaced Tenners, which were fake ten pound notes using Princess Diana’s face over the Queen’s.

8. His 2006 exhibition Barely Legal, held in a Los Angeles warehouse, featured an elephant painted red and stencilled with gold fleur de lis to match the wallpaper. Animal rights activists were up in arms about this and they were eventually ordered to be hosed down.

9. For the 2006 film Children of Men, director Alfonso Cuarón approached Banksy for possible collaboration. Banksy declined the invitation, but allowed his reproduction of his work 'Kissing Coppers' to be used in the background of one of the film's scenes.

10. The work of Banksy has developed a celebrity following, with many of the world-famous acquiring his work including Damien Hirst, Justin Bieber and Serena Williams.

11. U2 frontman Bono commissioned the artist to produce a work titled Sweeping it Under the Carpet while Bono guested as editor at the Independent. The piece was a commentary on Western inaction to AIDS

12. The 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop was made by Banksy, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

13. Despite remaining anonymous, he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2010.

14. British journalist Simon Hattenstone held a face-to-face interview with Banksy, and describes the artist in the Guardian as “white, 28, scruffy casual – jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring.'

15. Banksy has also cheekily hung his own works among masterpieces at major museums such as the Louvre, Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

16. In 2015, he opened Dismaland, in Weston-super-Mare, England. This is a full-scale, temporary amusement park, which also displayed artworks by other artists, and he has described it as “a family attraction that acknowledges inequality and impending catastrophe.”

17. In 2017, he opened his second major-scale project, The Walled Off Hotel, in Bethlehem. It advertises itself as having “the worst view of any hotel in the world.”

18. During the Contemporary Art Evening Auction held at Sotheby’s London in 2018, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, Banksy pulled his greatest stunt. To the consternation of the gathered crowd, the work suddenly passed halfway through a hidden shredder in the frame once the auctioneer's final hammer fell. Later, Banksy uploaded a video to his website where he suggested that the shredder had malfunctioned, and the entire work was meant to have been destroyed. The work was renamed 'Love is a bin'.

19. The term “Banksy effect” was coined in reference to both increasing critical and commercial interest in street art ,as a result of Banky’s wide appeal.

STOP PRESS! Banksy has proved he has a heart of gold by sponsoring a migrant rescue boat. The man's an angel. (we are assuming he is a man of course!).

To see the art go to: http://www.artbanksy.com/

art-eklecto rating: infinity minus (this rating is partly based on his own personal evaluation)