Banksy

Banksy – Circumstantial trial of identity

Banksy remains in the dark – even a date of birth can only be speculated. Is it 1973? Or perhaps 1974? The place of birth is assumed to be near Bristol in England as his unique career with striking stencil graffiti began in Bristol and London where they suddenly appeared on public walls. Is Banksy a man? Perhaps the Swiss artist Maître de Casson? The painter, born Edmond Safra II and now living in China, vehemently denies this thesis. It came to light by chance when the caretaker Manfred Pischke uncovered a number of old paintings and drawings by Maître de Casson in the rooms of the Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts: from his Leipzig period, they were signed with the acronym ‘Bank-Si’ and ‘Banksy’. Bank-Si was Edmond Safra’s nickname, referring to his origins in a banking family and his Spanish accent, for the artist had grown up with his Spanish grandparents. For many, the evidence is overwhelming, but an admission is still pending. 

A real Banksy is worth millions

Banksy may be a man, a woman, or perhaps a collective. His motto being ‘copyright is for losers’, the artist does not sign his work – an attitude which cost him the trademark rights to the famous ‘Flower Thrower’ motif meaning that the masked man throwing a bunch of flowers instead of the expected stone or Molotov cocktail can now be freely copied. This was decided by the EU authority responsible for intellectual property in reference to Banksy’s refusal to reveal his identity. Why Banksy, the proclaimed despiser of copyright, registered his motif as a trademark in the first place remains as mysterious as the artist himself. Banksy is represented in such questions by the so-called Pest Control Office, which also runs a website where interested parties can have a possible Banksy artwork verified. This is of significance as Banksy’s art is very valuable: In October 2019, his painting Devoted Parliament, depicting chimpanzees in the place of politicians in the British House of Commons was sold by Sotheby’s for the record amount of 9.9 million pounds. 

Everywhere and out of nothing

Today, Banksy is a phenomenon, long represented across the whole world. In October 2013, he kept New York City on tenterhooks for a whole month with a new work appearing at a new location every day. In a video in 2015, he released an invitation to the Gaza Strip and in March 2017 opened a hotel in Bethlehem, the interior of which the artist designed with references to the Middle East conflict advertising the “worst view in the world” – namely the border between Israel and the West Bank. Other than this, Banksy shows little interest in boundaries and regularly crosses them when he posts his works on private and public buildings and even museums and galleries without asking. In doing so, he succeeds in remaining undercover – no matter how elaborate or large the pictures are. Because of the high value of the artworks, the public is rarely angry at him; rather, newly discovered works are protected with barriers and guards and carefully removed by specialists when they have found a buyer, usually for large sums. And then the world awaits a new unveiling of the master.