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Graffiti artist Banksy unmasked ... as a former public schoolboy from middle-class suburbia

Architecture News - Jul 17, 2008 - 13:26   5631 views

He is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, artist alive. To some agenius, to others a vandal. Always controversial, he inspiresadmiration and provokes outrage in equal measure. Since Banksymade his name with his trademark stencil-style `guerrilla` art inpublic spaces - on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even on theWest Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians - his works havesold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. He has dozens of celebrity collectors including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera. He is also known for his headline-making stunts, such as leaving aninflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland,California, and hanging a version of the Mona Lisa - but with a smileyface - in the Louvre, Paris. But perhaps his most provocativestatement, and the one that generates the most publicity, is the factthat Banksy`s true identity has always been a jealously guarded secret,known to only a handful of trusted friends. A network of mythshas grown up around him. That his real name is Robin Banks. That heused to be a butcher. That his parents don`t know what he does,believing him to be an unusually successful painter and decorator. Then there`s the suggestion that Banksy is actually a collective of artists and doesn`t exist at all. Suchis the curiosity about Banksy that when the great man threw a pizza boxinto a bin in Los Angeles, the box resurfaced on auction site eBay,with the seller suggesting that the few anchovies left inside mightyield traces of his DNA. He is the Scarlet Pimpernel of modernart, so adept at leaving false trails that even his own agent hasclaimed that he is not certain of his identity. Indeed, trying to establish just who the elusive Banksy is has proved as difficult as predicting the location of his next work. But now, after an exhaustive year-long investigation in which wehave spoken to dozens of friends, former colleagues, enemies, flatmatesand members of Banksy`s close family, The Mail on Sunday has come asclose as anyone possibly can to revealing his identity. And farfrom being a radical tearaway from an inner-city council estate, theman we have identified as Banksy is, perhaps all too predictably, aformer public schoolboy brought up in middle-class suburbia. Oursearch began with a photograph taken in Jamaica showing a man in a blueshirt and jeans, with a hint of a smile on his face and a spray can athis feet. Taken four years ago, it was said to show Banksy atwork. When the picture was published it appeared to be the first chinkin the armour of anonymity with which the artist has shielded himselfever since his work began to attract the attention of the art world. Naturally,Banksy denied the picture was of him. Indeed, as we discovered, Banksyand those close to him tend to deny everything. Armed with thisphotograph, we travelled to Bristol, long said to have been Banksy`shome city, where we made contact with a man who claimed to have oncemet the artist in the flesh. Of course, many people claim asmuch, but the moment one starts asking for more information, onediscovers they actually `know someone who met Banksy` - and the trailruns cold. However, this man claimednot only to have met the elusive artist but was able to furnish us witha name - not the usual variations of the name Banks but one all themore intriguing. The man in the photograph, he insisted, wasformerly known as Robin Gunningham - and it didn`t require muchimagination to work out how such a name could result in the nicknameBanksy. From records available to the public, we were able to glean further information.
www.mailonsunday.co.uk/femail/article-1034538/Graffiti-artist-Banksy-unmasked--public-schoolboy-middle-class-suburbia.html