Banksy Finally ‘Unmasked’ After Years-Long Investigation – The Hook news

For years, the identity of Banksy has been one of contemporary art’s most enduring mysteries, protected by legal caution, public fascination and the artist’s own determination to remain hidden. That mystery has now been thrust back into view after a Reuters investigation said it had established that the man behind the Banksy name is Robin Gunningham, a Bristol-born artist long rumoured to be the figure behind some of the most recognisable street art in the world. The report has also renewed interest in a photograph taken in north London last year, when a man seen near one of Banksy’s best-known recent works was briefly seized upon online as a possible sighting of the artist himself.

Reuters said its reporting was based on a year of work that included interviews with insiders and experts, analysis of photographs, court files and police records, and previously undisclosed material from a 2000 New York arrest. According to the news agency, the breakthrough document was a handwritten confession tied to a disorderly conduct case after a billboard was defaced during New York Fashion Week. Reuters reported that the confession, along with court and police records, identified the culprit as Robin Gunningham, not simply Banksy, and argued that this established the long-suspected link far more firmly than earlier media claims had done.