The fact that British graffiti artist Banksy's true identity is still unknown blows my mind. This man has been creating street art for many many years; how is that even possible? His work captures the attention of many, including news channels, yet no one knows who he truly is.
It is quite a refreshing thought though, that he is still anonymous. It shows how unimportant the fame is to him. All he wants to do is get his message across, in as many cities as he can. It doesn't seem to be all about the money.
Though Exit Through the Gift Shop does show that Banksy has held art shows, and he does gain money and fame for his work, his choice to remain anonymous just shows he wants to stay out of the limelight. However, this could be due to the fact that graffiti is illegal.
Thierry first heard of Banksy through other street artists, and saw on news channels how he was adding his work to museums. His outlandish portraits and paintings and sculptures gained much attention. I'm not exactly positive, but adding your artwork to museums that house other art worth possibly millions of dollars does not seem like it would fly with the law. Maybe this is a major reason as to why he chooses to remain anonymous.
In an article in Time Magazine written in 2008, journalist Alex Altman claimed he found the true identity of the unknown Banksy. Altman claimed Banksy was actually Robin Gunningham, a thirty-four year old native of Bristol, England. The artist's agent denied the fact that one picture, of which Altman based his assumption off of, could tell Banksy's true identity.
Quoted from the article, "Anything that's ever bee written about him centers around the anonymity -- that he's this Batman, this cut figure." Though I don't fully believe Altman's story, what would happen if Banksy's identity were truly discovered? His art would lose meaning, he would be known by a face more than what his art depicts.
As we talked about in class, when you see a piece of art by itself, you are able to take your own perspective on it, and see it for what it really is. But, when the artist stands next to his or her piece of art, there is more focus on the person who created the piece than the actual piece itself. It takes away from the meaning behind the work.
However, I don't think Banksy has to worry much about his identity being known. In another article by the same magazine, they identified Banksy by a totally different name then in the previous article: Robert Banks. For now, his anonymity is still intact, which I believe to be a good thing.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1825271,00.html#ixzz1K04yF2Vg
