Who is Banksy?
Updated on 23 April 2007
His pictures fetch six-figure sums, and his fans include. But the graffiti artist's identity remains a mystery.
Banksy is a pseudo-anonymous graffiti artist. He is thought to be one Robert Banks, aged 33.
He hails from the Bristol area but has created artworks all over the world. Primarily a graffiti artist using stencils, he has also designed sculptures and installations.
Ironically, his anti-establishment "cool" has made him highly collectible, with Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera among his fans. He is pals with Damien Hirst, and one of his pictures sold for over £100,000 in February.
His art is overtly political and often controversial. Unlike most artists, his creations invite criticism not only because of their subject matter but because of their medium - they involve daubing paint over public or private property.
- In 2005 he placed subverted versions of well-known paintings in galleries including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Britain in London - they went undetected for several days.
- The British Museum added a Banksy to their permanent collection when they discovered his imitation cave painting depicting a caveman with a shopping trolley.
- In 2006, 97% voted to save a controversial mural in a Bristol City Council internet poll. It depicts a husband and wife looking out of a window while the wife's lover hangs from the ledge, painted on the wall of a sexual health clinic.
- Copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD were replaced with his cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse with titles such as "Why am I famous?", "What have I done?" and "What am I for?" Some were purchased before stores could remove them and fetched up to £750 on eBay.
- Several Banksy pieces have been painted over accidentally by council workers - most recently, a scene from the film Pulp Fiction in which the characters hold bananas instead of guns was erased by cleaners from Transport for London.
- In January, two men were convicted of criminal damage after painting over a mural of two policemen kissing in Brighton.
