BANKSY is one of the world’s most famous artists, but despite his global following, his identity remains unknown.
The latest artwork has led people to ponder whether the man at the site was indeed the person in question. Here’s what we know.
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.
Far from the rebellious tearaway, what we know about Robin paints more a picture of middle class suburbia.
Robin was born in 1973 in Bristol, also known to be Banksy’s long-supposed stomping ground.
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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.
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In 2024, a man seen at the site of the latest artwork 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.
The 67-year-old 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.”
Is Robin Gunningham Banksy?
Banksy has never confirmed his identity.
It is thought that the enigmatic 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 35-year-old 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, 33-year-old Brooklyn artist Richard Pfeiffer was arrested for purportedly painting graffiti actually done by Banksy.
Pfeiffer and his fiancé 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.
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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.
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