In search of Banksy, Reuters found the artist took on a new identity

People who wanted to know already knew. The name is circulating for years more or less publicly. But does it matter to you? I could and still can see and enjoy his artistic work with and without  knowing his civil name.

I like to think it’s a group of people. Not one man who does all these paintings

Cash money

One of the top comments on an Instagram of this was "and will he pay for all the graffiti he's left now that we know'  Absolute melt. Boot licking pricks are happy about this.  We never needed know it was nicer that way and if you looked into it you already had an inkling 

Banksy probably thinks he profits trying to hide his identity. That Reuters journalist probably thinks he profits trying to identify Banksy. Both probably won’t profit a lot from me.

I heard a bit of this journo on the radio tonight - giving us the 'as a public figure, the public have a right (and desire apparently) to know' - but I tend to agree that he has really indicated he doesn't want to be known so why can't he be left alone..

try reading the article

Investigative journalism. They investigate stuff. It's in the name.

Because some journalists get a bee in their bonnet and get obsessed with something that nobody else really cares about.

Bit against the grain here, but I disagree. It's a public figure piece. He's made dozens of extremely famous works of art, and the general public has no idea who it is. It's not tabloidism to interview movie stars or do a profile piece on a famous singer, Banksy is in that same sphere.

This is the opposite of that scene in Spider-Man 2

He changed his name to David Jones evidently.

There’s no paywall. I don’t understand why it got flagged

The only sure way to know is if one of his wall art pieces appeared round the corner in giant form made out of old t-shirts or something and best viewed from the air.

Who happens to be the secret love child of Tony Hart.

This is awesome hahaha.

Ok. And who is Robin Gunningham who is now called David Jones?

David Jones? Like Bowie?

How long until it’s just a symbol?

It’s been known to be Gunningham for at least a decade

I'm with you there, Bansky's work is counter culture at it's finest!! The only one's who want to know who they actually are probably people who are pissed because they are the subject's of his work, he's calling them out! Leave Bansky alone, they are fighting the good fight, through something that's been used for centries to call government's, Royal's, king's, Hitler (the swing kid's movement ) etc out on their bullshit because that's what art is, that's why we know art for what it is today and when i say art i mean, ALL OF THE ART'S i'm talking theater, film's, tv show's, music, dance, graffiti, oil paint's, make-up, etc etc!! Art has been the BACKBONE to counter culture, because it show's dissent, it's exposes hypocricy, it allow's for freedom to express yourself unapologeticly, unsanitized, which we all know why tyranical system's like to target art, because art say's something, say's something about them, art exposes the truth behind their corruption, and some people don't like it when you call them out, it make's you look at yourself in the mirror and make's you ask yourself 'Why' or "wait, am i the bad guy? Oh no, someone's onto me my corrupt scheme's" Art is supposed to turn people's brain ON so that they can see what's actually happening around them. So i say, leave Bansky alone, let them do their work, because we need them NOW more than ever! They can't do that if their identiy is exposed, because then Bansky can be silenced by the very same people Bansky's subject's directily call's them out for. So Bansky, must stay Anonymous, or else we will never see Bansky's new work EVER, and the corruption that Bansky's exposeing, will fly under everyone's noses, and keep thinking that everything is fine and dandy, when it isn't, Brenda!! I think i smell smoke Brenda: "oh that's just the neighbor's fire pit" "Hey, Brenda, the fire alarm's in the house are going off, i think something in the house is burning !! Brenda: "oh, i've been meaning to change the batteries on that, they are really buggy" "Brenda, the house is full of smoke the house is definitly on fire we need to go!!" Brenda: "oh just let me finish this article and then we can go on a walk" Already out on the street waiting for the fire department to arrive "BRENDA, THE HOUSE IS EGULFED IN FLAMES AND YOU NEED TO GER OUT OF THEIR NOW!!" Brenda, still in the house: "everything's fine" Bansky, is telling us that the house is on fire And the rest of us are Brenda, who is so oblivious, she dosn't actually notice the real danger she's in. Because she was told "not to trust her eye's or ear's,"

Ok, then who is he? Because I certainly don't f****** know.

According to Wikipedia, his identity wasn't confirmed until 2026. Which was zero years ago, so you are technically correct. But next year you will be wrong because at that point in time it will only be one year ago. But then in 2028 you will be correct again because it will be two years ago.

>People cracked that case yeeeears ago Yes and it was mistakingly attributed to the front man of massive attack, Robert. There was a very old daily Mail from 2008 that had correctly identified who it was but there wasn't as much confidence by the public that it was correct. The general public much more believed it was the front man from massive attack. So you would be wrong on your assessment.

I thought it was a group. Not just one artist.

Who is Robert?

I saw that interview, and the look on his face when he realised apologising was the worst thing he could have said.

Yeah it’s gotten posted like four times now.

Absolutely. At this point, if Banksy wanted to out himself (or if he is part of a collective), he would. In this world of worshipping celebrities rather than anything they create, if they do indeed create, we need more Banksys.

Kind of speaks to the quality of his art, no?

dont be ridiculous, it's Willam Knackerman