Getty Image / Piero Cruciatti / Anadolu Agency
Banksy has been arguably the most famous street artist in the world since the late 1990s. Multiple works of art from Banksy have been re-sold at auction for over $10 million and people travel the globe to see his pieces in person.
Despite being the most famous artist in the world, Banksy’s identity has never truly been revealed. I say truly because people in the know have been 99.9% confident for a bit know that they’ve solved the riddle of his identity.
Banksy’s Identity Could Be Revealed Due To Court Case
In the very near future, it’s highly possible that I want to have italicize ‘truly‘ when talking about Banksy’s identity. That is because a court case between Banksy and a rival could lead to his name being divulged in the High Court documents.
This all stems from an Instagram post by Banksy with the caption “Alerting all shoplifters. Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?”
The accompanying image showed one of Banksy’s pieces being used at the GUESS store without his (her?) permission. But the caption urging people to go shoplift at that store kicked off a £1.3 million High Court case.
The lawsuit was filed by a company run by Andrew Gallagher, according to the UK Standard, and Gallagher could seek to unmask Banksy’s identity in the High Court proceedings. Stated in the lawsuit is “His true identity has not been disclosed to the public but he carries on his public activities under the pseudonym ‘Banksy.’ The claimant reserves the right to seek an order that he identifies himself for the purposes of these proceedings.”
The company owned by Gallaher, Full Colour Black Ltd, alleges £1,357,086 in losses due to the Instagram post. Their stance is Banksy’s caption + picture led to “serious financial loss” and “serious harm.”
Taking a step back, Full Colour Black Ltd owns the trademark for ‘Brandalised.’ And what they initially did was license a photograph of Banksy’s ‘Flower Bomber’ piece to GUESS. Banksy argues this should have never happened, stating this company “had stolen Banksy’s artwork by licensing images to GUESS without permission or other legal authority.”
Where we stand: (1) company licenses a photograph of Banksy’s work to GUESS. (2) Banksy argues this wasn’t legal and doesn’t want it used. (3) Banksy posts to his 12 million followers a message to go vandalized the store. (4) That company is now suing Banksy. And last but not least, (5) in this court case they could unmask his true identity.
Don’t we already know who Banksy is?
For years, it has been widely believed that Banksy’s identity was revealed by British music producer Goldie. This came in 2017 when Goldie appeared on a podcast, Distraction Pieces Podcast, and referred to Banksy as ‘Rob’.
This led people to believe that Banksy’s true identity was Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, an English Trip Hop collective. On that podcast, Goldie said “For something like graffiti, which has inspired the world with font or anything to do with anyone wearing a baseball cap and f—— sneakers, at its center it is still misunderstood. But give me a bubble letter and put it on a T-shirt and write ‘Banksy’ on it and we’re sorted… We can sell it now. No disrespect to Rob, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over.”
Del Naja, of course, has been asked about this. In response to a theory about Massive Attack gigs coinciding with Banksy art instillations, Robert Del Naja said “It would be a good story but sadly not true. Wishful thinking, I think. He is a mate as well. He’s been to some of the gigs. It’s purely a matter of logistics and coincidence, nothing more than that.”
Soon, based on the court case unfolding between Banksy and Full Colour Black Ltd, the world may finally definitively learn Banksy’s identity.