Banksy

Who is he? This is what we have discovered.

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist or a group of them. People don’t know much information about him, and it is not really clear. People think his name is Robert or Robin Banks, he is from Bristol (London), as most of his paintings are there, and he was born in 1974-75. They say he started painting in the early 90s and he got influenced by Blek Le Rat.

Simon Hattenstone, a journalist, said he had interviewed Banksy. He said he was blond, tall and thin and he was dressed like a rapper. He said he looked like a mixture between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner. Also, a newspaper said he was caught while he was painting, and his identity was revealed.

Most of his paintings show rats, children and policemen or soldiers. They mainly show children are influenced by television or things related to politics, he protests against huge walls separating people and wars.

Irene Rodríguez. 4º C

Banksy

Banksy is the “name” of an English graffiti artist whose real name is unconfirmed. Some journalists have seen him drawing on walls and finally he was discovered as you can see in the photos below. Banksy was born in Bristol in 1974 or 1975. His graffitis have messages about these topics Anti-war, Anti-capitalism, Anti-fascism, and Anarchism.

His work was born of Bristol’s underground scene. He made collaborations with other artists and musicians. Banksy was the son of a photocopier technician. He tried to be a butcher but he didn´t enjoy it. He became involved in graffiti during the Bristol’s aerosol boom in the 80`. His style is similar to the one used by Blek le rat who is a French artist who also makes stencils.

Banksy's first film, Exit through the Gift Shop,  made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  The film was released in the UK on 5 March. It is a story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Sheppard Fairley, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work.

He had published these books

• Banksy, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall (2001)
• Banksy, Existencilism (2002)
• Banksy, Cut it Out (2004)
• Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005) Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005) 

Andrés Sauchynets. 4º C

WHO IS BANKSY?

Banksy is a graffiti painter whose identity is unknown. Either his work is labelled as art or as vandalism. Anyway, his graffiti are sold for over 200,000 pounds. He has different graffiti paints all around the world, but no one has ever seen him doing them. Despite this, there are several different suggestions about who he is.

Identity:

It is said that he was born in Bristol (England), as there are an important number of his paints on the walls of this city. It is also said that he was born between the years 1974-1975 because he started painting in the 90s, when he should have been about 14 or 15 years old. 

Supposedly, his real name is Robin (or maybe Robert) Banks. A recent article claims that his real name is Robin Gunningham, a former public schoolboy, but the reporter started her investigation from a photograph so it may be true, it may be not. In an interview he did in the year 2003, the reporter describes him as “a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner, of the Streets”, white man wearing scruffy clothes, a silver tooth and an earring. However, this information may not be true, or mistaken, Banksy rarely does interviews and he has never been photographed by any newspaper; there have been some times in which newspapers have stated they have photographed the real Banksy, but each time it was a different person, so it is really difficult to know if the one on the newspaper is the real one or not.

Graffiti:

He uses stencils for doing his paints, because he “was quite crap with a spray can” so he “started cutting out stencils instead” as he said in an interview in 2003.

All of his graffiti have an implicit political or social criticism, but always with (a dark) sense of humor. He asks for an anti-war, anti-Capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchist, nihilist and existentialist world.

He takes advantage of the surroundings of where the graffiti is and connects the place with his paints. He has several paints in which the wall seems to be folded or broken, giving them a spectacular view.

His most common paints are rats or children, specially doing things children are not meant to do or to look like, showing a hopeless society.

Claudia Forte. 4º C