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SECRECY surrounds the identity of artist Banksy, who’s been surprising us with daily pieces of animal-themed art throughout August.
Here’s all we know about who he may be as his work appears at different central London locations.
The first potential of him emerged in 2008[/caption]
Who is Robin Gunningham?
In 2008, a picture of a man in Jamaica emerged who was allegedly Banksy.
The Mail on Sunday revealed that the man in the photograph was reportedly formerly known as Robin Gunningham.
Robin was born in 1973 in Bristol, also known to be Banksy’s long-supposed stomping ground.
He was a pupil at Bristol Cathedral School.
Robin’s father, Peter Gordon Gunningham, was a retired contracts manager from the Whitehall area of Bristol.
His mother, Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones, was a company director’s secretary and grew up in the exclusive surroundings of Clifton and he has an older sister called Sarah.
When Robin was nine, the family moved to a larger home in the same street and it is there he spent his formative years and became interested in graffiti.
In 2024, a man seen at the site of a piece in Finsbury Park, North London, denied being the creative in question.
Conspiracy theorists were in a frenzy when the man was photographed wearing glasses similar to those associated with Mr Gunningham.
But The Sun located the man who verified that his real name is George Georgiou.
He told The Sun how “all hell broke loose” after the work appeared in Hornsey Road.
Unlike many admirers, he did not consider the work to be a “masterpiece”.
He was disgruntled over having his picture taken saying: “Instead of just whipping a picture, they should’ve just said who are you? Would’ve been so much easier.”
Throughout August 2024, the “guerilla street artist” revealed a series of animal-themed creations at locations around London.
The art would appear each day, sparking a flurry of speculation about whether Banksy was behind them and what they meant.
He would then confirm it on his Instagram page at 1pm later each day.
But they didn’t all remain in place – one design was taken down by a security company within hours, supposedly for safety reasons.
And one piece was stolen almost immediately, with photos showing what looked like thieves making off with the design or a wolf spray-painted onto a satellite dish.
Whilst the work was completed in secret, it’s thought the mysterious artist may have been spotted on CCTV.
Is Robin Gunningham Banksy?
Banksy has never confirmed his identity.
It is thought that the artist offered a glimpse into his identity during a 2003 interview before his Turf War exhibition.
In this brief segment aired by ITV News and reported by correspondent Haig Gordon, the tagger is featured speaking for 35 seconds.
He is seen wearing a baseball cap and a T-shirt covering his lower face, leaving only his eyes, eyebrows, and forehead exposed.
Other reports have suggested that he could be artist and musician Robert del Naja due to Naja also being a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective The Wild Bunch.
In October 2014, an American news website claimed that a man named Paul Horner from Liverpool was identified as Banksy after he was tracked down by an Anti-Graffiti Task Force and arrested for vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering, and counterfeiting.
Banksy’s publicist Jo Brooks later denied that the artist had been arrested and confirmed that the source article was a hoax published by a satire website.
In March 2015, Brooklyn artist Richard Pfeiffer was arrested for purportedly painting graffiti actually done by Banksy.
Pfeiffer and his partner were admiring a street artwork in Manhattan’s East Village when police showed up and accused him of drawing the image.
Pfeiffer — who was found in possession of a pen — was able to prove that the tip didn’t match the style of the piece cops claim he drew.
The charges were dropped six months later.
Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan denied he was Banksy in 2020, after a bizarre conspiracy theory about his identity swept the internet.
In 2022, Pembroke Dock councillor Billy Gannon resigned from his post after being accused of being Banksy.
He said the accusations undermined his ability to carry out his work and that despite being a community street artist, he was not the mystery man.
Banksy came under fire for a stunt he created at Glastonbury 2024.
The artist launched an inflatable life raft holding dummy migrants into the crowd during the Idles’ set.
The raft was a reference to the inflatable boats which human traffickers have used to smuggle asylum seekers across the Channel.
Banksy’s stunt has been labelled by many as being in bad taste after he claimed he was behind the piece.
