An investigation conducted by Reuters which crossed a bombed-out Ukrainian village, London and midtown Manhattan confirmed the identity of Banksy, the enigmatic British street artist whose works are worth millions.
The search result is the same as the one obtained by detective Francisco Marco and revealed by the Spanish newspaper The World last year: Robin Gunningham, a British citizen born in Bristol in 1973.
Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, the artist lived in a Manhattan hotel that over the years allowed artists to stay for free in exchange for decorating the rooms. He painted a mural, finished a room and signed the works as “Robin Banks.”
Emma Houghton, who dated him for four years, “even before he transitioned to Banksy”, did not reveal her identity, but confirmed that the artist’s signature evolved from his given name to “Mr. Banks” and then to “Banksy”.
During the same time, he was caught painting freehand on the roof of a building in New York, defacing an advertising billboard. He was arrested and identified as Robin Gunningham, a name that had been rumored by the British press since 2008.
However, Banksy was in Ukraine in late 2021 and painted a mural, but there was no proof that Robin Gunningham had entered the war-torn country. Those who had crossed the border at the same time to paint the wall were Giles Duley, Robert Del Naja and a certain David Jones. But if the identities of Duley and Del Naja were easily deciphered, David Jones is a fairly common name in the United Kingdom.
A source familiar with immigration procedures provided the Reuters the date of birth on Jones’s passport and concluded it was the same as Robin Gunningham’s. That is, Banksy, born Robin Gunningham, later adopted the name David Jones, and it is unclear whether he still uses that name.
Leave a Reply