It is possibly one of the biggest mysteries of contemporary art. Everyone around the globe knows who Banksy is, they would recognize his work in the farthest corner of the planet. The paradox is that, in reality, very few people actually know the true identity of the most influential urban artist of all time. Perhaps, until now...
An investigation by Reuters news agency claims to have managed to put a name to Banksy. It all started with a mural on a destroyed building in Ukraine, at the end of 2022: a bearded man was rubbing his back in a bathtub, among the rubble. It was the first of several works by Banksy in Horenka, a village less than eight kilometers east of Bucha, where Russian forces had left at least 300 civilians dead seven months earlier.
Three Reuters journalists set out to unravel the mystery. Who is Banksy really?
One of the reporters traveled to Horenka with photos of the possible identities that have been attributed to Banksy over the years, to see if anyone recognized him, if anyone had seen something. And so it was. The neighbors had seen three men get out of an ambulance to paint the graffiti. One wore a gray hoodie; another, a baseball cap. Both had their faces covered with a mask. The third was easier to identify: he was not wearing a mask and had a prosthetic arm and two legs.
A neighbor even recounted how she made coffee for the artists, and recognized Robert Del Naja in one of the photographs, a member of the Bristol Wild Bunch collective and a founding member of the band Massive Attack, with which he continues to tour the world. British media have always linked the musician to Banksy, even speculating that he himself could be behind the artist's mask. Ukrainian immigration authorities confirmed that Del Naja was indeed in Ukraine at that time and that he entered and left the country accompanied by a certain David Jones, one of the most common British names.
The man with the prosthetics was easily identified. Giles Duley, a documentary photographer, lost his limbs in Afghanistan in 2011. His foundation, Legacy of War Foundation, donates ambulances to local NGOs in Ukraine. After painting the murals in Ukraine, Banksy publicly thanked Duley for lending him one of his vehicles to move around the territory without attracting attention. But Duley also signed the photos that had served as visual identity at Massive Attack concerts for years.
Who was, then, the third man, this David Jones?
For years, Robin Gunningham has been one of the most talked-about possible identities in the British media, since The Mail on Sunday named him in 2008. The British tabloid claimed that its year-long investigation had come closer "than anyone before" to the truth. The artist's representative then denied that Gunningham was indeed Banksy, but the Reuters reporters did not accept that denial and reopened the case.
They traced Banksy's biography looking for coincidences until they came across an anecdote recounted by photographer Steve Lazarides, Banksy's longtime representative, dating back to the year 2000. In September of that year, the New York police arrested Banksy in the act of vandalizing a Marc Jacobs billboard on a hotel. Reuters managed to identify the building and access the police reports. There was the surprise: among the documents was the handwritten confession of the detainee. Yes, it was signed by Robin Gunningham.
It remained to link Robin Gunningham to David Jones, the man who entered and left Ukraine during the investigated dates. Once again, the possible answer was found in Lazarides' memoirs. After the revelation by The Mail on Sunday in 2008, which the Banksy representative denied, the artist and manager decided to part ways. But the Greek would still carry out one last job for him: legally change his first and last name. He never revealed the final identity, but the Reuters reporters are working on the hypothesis that Banksy's new name was a discreet David Jones.
When the reporters sent their conclusions to the artist's lawyer, Mark Stephens, he conveyed to them that Banksy "does not accept that many of the details in their text are correct," without providing further details. Above all, without confirming or denying that Banksy is Robin Gunningham. Mystery solved?