Now, Which Robbie Is It?! BBC Unearths 20-Year-Old Interview ‘Revealing’ Banksy’s Real Name
One of the art world’s biggest modern mysteries might finally be tantalisingly close to being solved… at least, if you believe the BBC.
In an unearthed interview from BBC Radio 4’s PM programme dating all the way back to 2003, Banksy – the anonymous graffiti artist who has dominated discourse in the art scene for the last two decades – seemed to have revealed his real name.
“You’re happy for me to use your real name?” the interviewer Nigel Wrench asks in the clip, before confirming a name which had just been published on The Independent, Robert Banks.
“It’s Robbie,” the other voice replies, in a short snippet which has taken the art world by storm in the last 24 hours.
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Of course, many are still speculating whether this 20-year-old interview might’ve been yet another case of Banksy pulling his popular tactics of misdirection, but it looks like this could be the closest anyone has ever been to discovering his true identity… and it does confirm some prevailing theories on who it might be.
The Bristol-based street artist has long been rumoured to be Robert del Naja – a 58-year-old musician and artist who is perhaps best known for his work with popular 90s alternative band Massive Attack. Del Naja has said Banksy is a “mate” and he’s “been to some gigs” of his band, but many people seem to believe there’s more to that connection.
Other theories connect TV’s Art Attack presenter-turned-metalhead Neil Buchanan, or even French artist Thierry Guetta, aka Mr Brainwash. A more prevailing theory is Robin Gunningham, who grew up in Banksy’s long-supposed stomping ground of Bristol and was photographed back in 2008 in Jamaica.
But whoever “Robbie” actually turns out to be, his work will always remain legendary, with a number of striking works in war-torn places like Palestine and his larger-than-life Walled Off Hotel in Betlehem standing the test of time as part of art royalty.
Who do you think Banksy really is?
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