Well, last week I blogged to be on the look out for Banksy works around the city of Toronto because his film “Exit through the gift shop” was premiering here. Lo and behold businessmen and rat stencils have appeared and I for one have been wandering around looking at people’s hands in hopes of spotting him. There was even a dude in my gallery today who I was excitedly imagined fit the perfect profile of Banksy – especially because he checked out all the right stuff in here and refused to speak – to not betray a british accent perhaps?
But I was wrong, as were my assumptions from square one. The answer to whom Banksy is not of question of who HE is, but rather who SHE is….
That’s right. You heard me – Banksy is not a him, but is a woman who leads of team of seven people. Any assumptions you had about gender and indentity were purely your own projections, though I don’t think Banksy leading a team is news to anyone. But I really respect Banksy more than ever now.
And who is my source? You’ll have to take me to the Supreme Court of Canada to find that out, but let’s just say it is legit and reliable information, and had the tell-tale ring of truth to it.
See more photos at the Torontoist -> http://torontoist.com/2010/05/banksy_comes_to_toronto.php
See awesome art at Show & Tell Gallery -> http://showandtellgallery.com/
Ohhh this makes it all the more intriguing!!
I know!
Derren Brown ?
bullshit
Sadly, many people throughout the history of art have said the same thing when confronted by superior talent by women artists. Unless you know something I don’t?
It’s not bullshit because she’s a woman. It’s bullshit that he expects us to believe he knows who Banksy is because he was a “totally legit super secret source.”
Aveira – I never claimed to know a name or a specific person, just that he is a she – or at the very least the collective that is Banksy is both he and she. I don’t understand why considering that is a big deal.
Ah, the mystique of Banksy. I love it.
You know, a friend just pointed out that “Banksy” sounds very similar to “Banshee”
‘banksy + 7 artists for eight people total. I’m laughing. The urban legend is getting better by the minute. I’m not putting my money on that line.
Hey Jan – a team based approach under a single artist name is standard for most successful artists throughout history. We even saw that during “Exit through the gift shop” … and I saw a blond woman on that team in the film.
while your idea of banksy being female is an interesting one….where is your proof?
and the naysayers that scoff at the idea of banksy working as a team are idiots. anyone doing anything on a larger scale has ppl working for them/with them.
even myself, has a bud that comes out with me and helps me with my stencils. even it its just holding them up and carrying my gear.
Guys, guys, guys … I’ve got the answer. It’s really quite simple: it doesn’t matter. At all. The art is all that is important. While who the artist is influences what art they create, making the artist a “black box” doesn’t change the message of the art.
Why do you want to know who Banksy is? So that you can get his/her/its/their autograph? So you can make a statue? So you can brag to other people how you know something they don’t know?
Art should give identity to the artist, not the other way around.
I am glad that at least someone said this. The only reason I was looking up Banksy’s gender was to see if everyone’s presumption of them being male was actually based on anything or just a tad sexist. I think they could be either and I think it however is an irrelevant fact. As you said their art is amazing and the rest doesn’t matter really. I find it silly that people have opinions about their gender; you have no proof and it shouldn’t matter anyway
i know who bansky go be. yo, i going at london to interview him for like a documentary, snap.
he blind in one eye, is gimpy in da left leg, gots a parrot onna his shoulder and went to public school with margaret thatcher’s nephew, Tidy Thatcher.
genius is pain.
That is that we don’t know. It would not be interesting if we did know. That is how us humans work. A piece of shit on the ground is just a piece of shit till it is brought to are attention that it looks like someone face is in it then all of a sudden it is not piece of shit. Really!! Art is more of how it feels to the person doing it. Like an outlet.
WHo Cares who it is. You Love it…..
I feel like a villain posting this but i firmly hold to the idea that BANKSY is bigger then an identity and it is incredibly well known he works with a team, it seems foolish to postulate that this is a surprise. You lot are some confused though and quite behind the times, HIS identity has been generally accepted to be Robin Gunningham since july 2008, as outed by the British tabloid the Daily Mail. the article remains on their website to this day should you choose to do some research. Their facts are much more impressive then anything offered up here. To conclude and to quote the rat himself “if you’ve only ever read one book in your life i highly recommend…you Keep your f***ing mouth shut”.
get in the million person line of ppl who think they know who B is… I’m with kzurc
I’m with Paul Hughes and Kzurc! It’s unfortunate that this blog will get so many visits for such a poor article.
Hi Ronnie – I respect your point of view and thanks for participating but not sure why that makes this a “poor article”.
As to the very question of gender and anonymous persons I think accepting possibilities beyond our initial pre-conceptions is always a healthy excercise.
Also …. in the Banksy movie. there is a clearly a blond female in shots of the team in the studio, So, the realty is there is *at the very least* a top-level talent woman artist working closely with Banksy – I really don’t see how this is not obvious.
I guess because there really is no “i” in team.
The mystique of Banksy IS such that most people prefer letting it remain a mystery. Idiots like you trying to insert political agendas into the blank space of his persona for their own wish fulfillment rightly deserve to be mocked. Banksy’s real identity and face are confirmable for anyone who cares enough to search and have been known for years. You’re just lazy and you want to pretend the world is the way you want it instead of how it really is.
I stand corrected – I don’t actually respect your opinion. You obviously have not read what I wrote. I could care less about who Banksy is or what Banksy looks like. I am simply pointing out mass assumptions that an anonymous artist self identifies as male.
Perhaps you would like to throw your ill-considered hissy fit at The Atlantic Magazine: http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/11/why-banksy-is-probably-a-woman/382202/
Now please go away.
Banksy is me. Banksy is also you. Banksy is no one .
dirty harry is right. banksy is robin gunningham is banksy.
u guys are creating and perpetrating outmoded mythologies. it’s kinda weird that u would ignore this fact- attested to by several newspapers in the U.K.- and speculate so wildly and so wide of the mark.
sometimes being an artist is about getting real, what?
even if i wanted to tell you who I was I couldnt.Just enjoy the art
is Banksy Mr. Brainwash?!