July 14, 2008

Banksy Unmasked? Robin Gunningham, apparently. Or it's Banksy's latest hoax.
posted by es el Queso 15 years ago
  • Fascinating story! (I must say, though, I was kind of hoping he'd be discovered painting a mural on Nessie or something.)
  • Banksy is not one person. Banksy is a group.
  • Evidence for said statement? Anyway, I am Banksy.
  • Me too.
  • Evidence for said statement will not be forthcoming because I am pulling it out of my ass. But given that a single human being cannot be in two places at once, and that Banksy's work appears all over often at the same time, I am banking that it is more than one person.
  • No, I'm Banksy. You're Spartacus
  • *checks chin dimple* My God! You're right. *dons leather mini skirt*
  • I'm Brian and so's my wife.
  • Or this.
  • As long as you're all not Blansky.
  • Leave it to the Daily Mail to ride the man's wave, and to try to crush it in the process. Thanks, fuckers. Who needs intriguing, harmless little mysteries in life, when you can cash in for the day with some shoddy hit-and-run journalism. "And far from being a radical tearaway from an inner-city council estate, the man we have identified as Banksy is, perhaps all too predictably, a former public schoolboy brought up in middle-class suburbia." An artist invents a nom de plume and a false past for himself. Details at eleven... And "predictably"? Did you predict it, Daily Mail? Then STFU. Fuckin' wankers.
  • Dude, Banksy is by now a multi-millionaire. He's played with the press and profited. If he didn't expect to get a little attention in this process, then he's in the wrong game. He's not an underdog, he could buy you and me several times over, so .. really who gives a toss?
  • If it was far too predictable, then why is his class and backround worth their remarking on?
  • Hank, I don't mourn for Banksy himself, whomever he is, but just at the loss of a little life mystery. We didn't know who the guy was, he kept us guessing. Jack the Ripper, but current, and without the gore. There's a charm to these things, and something is lost when they're solved, I think. Fermat's Theorem was only interesting (to non-math-types) because it was unsolved. The Amber Room, Amelia Earhart -- much of the interest in them exists because of that unknown. Once that little mystery has been pried open like Al Capone's Vault, we lose something. There aren't too many dark corners left in the world right now, aside from the extreme reaches of any field of research. The question "who is Banksy" was one of those tidy, innocuous unknowns, and I'm sad to see it gone. And for what? What is the gain? Not to mention the whole tone of indignation on the part of the Daily Mail, too, finding out that an artist had the temerity to pad their biography or invent a new self. That's news? What the hell..? As I see it all, anyway. YMMV.
  • Monkeyfilter: Jack the Ripper, but current, and without the gore.
  • A big part of the lure of mysteries is trying to solve them. Banksy's anonymity was a challenge to the world to try to unmask him while he attempted to keep himself hidden. It was a game he created, he participated in, and now it seems the Daily Mail has claimed victory. If he's a good sport he will congratulate them and grant an exclusive interview or something.
  • That being said, the DM was somewhat prickish about it. Have they historically considered him a criminal graffiti vandal?
  • Who's they? The Daily Mail? Bunch of Right Wing fucktards, so their opinion isn't worth shit. The Man, however, the police and other legal organs, have been after Banksy and his ilk for a long time. When he works on walls, it is graffiti, which is considered vandalism in the UK & elsewhere, so irrespective of the artistic value, if they get caught, they get charged.
  • Well, that's the appeal isn't it? I like most of Banksy's work from an artistic viewpoint, but it wouldn't be selling for near the same price if it was on canvas. This is one case where McLuhan is bang-on...Banksy's art is all about the medium. And, yeah..I was talking about the Daily Mail. I'm not up on the politics of England's papers, but this article didn't make them seem to be on his side.
  • the Daily Mail has claimed victory Apparently he was first exposed five years ago by the website The Afflicted Yard, but as you will see from the info-light link, m'learned friends were engaged and the story was squashed.
  • Gawker "leaks" second image. Director of the Vanina Holasek gallery in Chelsea swears it's not him. What. Evar.
  • Color me shocked! Wal-Mart is totally noted for its core values.* *greed