Banksy is, without a doubt, one of the world's most famous artists. He's known for his political-leaning street art as well as stunts conducted within the art world itself — like when his "Girl Without Balloon" painting was immediately destroyed via shredder in 2018, seconds after it was auctioned off.
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Banksy's notoriety is bolstered by the fact that, pretty much the entire time he's been doing his thing, no one has publicly revealed who he actually is. For a while, people believed that Banksy's true identity was Robert Del Naja of the influential UK electronic group Massive Attack. At points, people have also theorized that Banksy is actually several people operating under a sort of collective pseudonym.
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Confused? Well, a potential bombshell of a report from Reuters claims to have uncovered the true, actual identity of Banksy — but that doesn't mean the matter is settled in any way, shape, or form.
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First off: The journalists who contributed reportage to the story claim that Del Naja is not, in fact, the sole identity of Banksy — but, that he may or may not have been a collaborator with Banksy, or within the Banksy project, at some point. Massive Attack's reps also didn't respond to comment, so who knows what's going on there.
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Instead, Reuters claims that the true identity of Banksy is graffiti artist Robin Gunningham, who later changed his name to David Jones. (Interestingly, Gunningham-slash-Jones hails from Bristol, where Massive Attack were founded as a band. The plot thickens, indeed!)
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The reporting that led Reuters to allege that Gunningham-slash-Jones is the real Banksy is exhaustive and fascinating, and if you find this story at all interesting I would advise reading the entire story right here. One thing you should know, though, is that Banksy's lawyer has — very unsurprisingly — claimed that their reporting is inaccurate.
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The artist's lawyer, Mark Stephens, said in a statement to Reuters that he “does not accept that many of the details contained within your enquiry are correct." He also urged the publication to not publish their reporting, claiming that Banksy has been "subjected to fixated, threatening and extremist behaviour.”
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Stephens also put forth that Banksy's decision to work “anonymously or under a pseudonym serves vital societal interests. It protects freedom of expression by allowing creators to speak truth to power without fear of retaliation, censorship or persecution – particularly when addressing sensitive issues such as politics, religion or social justice.”
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Maybe, when you think about it, the real Banksy was the friends we made along the way. At any rate, a fascinating turn of events!