BANKSY’S identity will remain a mystery after the graffiti artist prevented their name being revealed at the High Court.
The spray can maestro is being sued over an Instagram post where they encouraged followers to steal from the GUESS store on Regents Street after it advertised an apparent collaboration.
As part of the £1.3m defamation proceedings, British greeting card company Full Colour Black and its owner Andrew Gallagher, 56, had sought an order for Banksy to be identified.
But documents obtained by The Sun show the artist applied for the order to be struck out and the claimant gave up the bid on January 17.
The November 2022 post featured an image of Banksy’s ‘Flower Bomber’ work in a shop window which advertised “Graffiti by Banksy”.
The GUESS logo and Mr Gallagher’s ‘Brandalised’ name are also visible.
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Banksy accompanied the image 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?”
Mr Gallagher has made a business out of selling images of Banksy’s work through his company Full Colour Black.
In its High Court claim, the firm alleged the Instagram post “contained defamatory words which referred to, and were understood to refer to, the Claimant”.
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Gallagher is suing “The Artist known as ‘Banksy’ and Pest Control Office Limited, the body that authenticates his art”.
Full Colour Black is seeking at least £1,357,086 in damages and an injunction preventing further alleged defamation.
The case is the latest in a more than decade-long row which began when Full Colour Black started selling photos taken of Banksy’s public work.
Banksy first came to prominence in the 90s for spray-painting trains and walls in their home city of Bristol.
Although many people have tried to guess who they are, their identity has never been revealed.
One suggestion is Banksy could be Robert del Naja from 90s trip hop behemoth Massive Attack, who hail from city.
In 2008, it was alleged Bristol-born artist Robin Gunningham could be artist.
While Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan denied he was Banksy in 2020, after a conspiracy theory about his identity swept the internet.
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