Banksy's best works. Banksy played on the name of the French film festival

All that is known about Banksy is that he was born in Bristol around 1974, and that his name may or may not be Robert Banks. That what he is doing is illegal and, at the very least, falls under the articles of “vandalism” and “hooliganism,” therefore he hides his face and is in no hurry to bask in the glory, and communicates with exhibition curators and journalists exclusively through an agent. At the same time, his works are sold at fabulous prices for a “hooligan”. On the eve of the next auction at which his graffiti “Girl with a Flower” will be sold (estimate, by the way, is 150 thousand dollars), the editors of the Weekend project have compiled a guide to the most significant works of Banksy, which can explain why a grown man runs at night on rooftops with a stencil and a can of spray paint.

Pulp Fiction (2002)

This image, which appeared in 2002 near the Old Street tube station in London, repeated the scene from the Quentin Tarantino film with cinematic precision, except for one detail: the heroes of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta were holding bananas instead of pistols.

In April 2007, Transport for London painted over the graffiti due to the "excessive violence of the scene depicted and the corrupting impact on society." At that time, the estimated value of the work reached 300 thousand pounds. The company's press service explained the employees' actions succinctly: "Our staff consists of professional cleaners, not professional art critics."

The stencil still remains popular: at the end of 2011, an Australian hotel chain announced a promotion: as part of the “Steal Banksy” game, a Banksy work would appear in one of the chain’s hotels, and any guest could take it away, and if the “theft” was not noticed by security , then the “criminal” could keep the illustration for himself. Two works participated in the event: No Ball Games and Pulp Fiction. As a result, the residents managed to remove only the first work, worth 15 thousand dollars, while the owners of the network sent the second to the crime-fighting organization Crime Stoppers Australia, which put it up for auction. In hotels, for a long time after this, there was an announcement that the action was over and it was no longer worth “stealing”.

Kissing Policemen (2004)

Graffiti in London's Brighton near Trafalgar Street became something of a landmark: any tourist considered it his duty to include the wall next to the Prince Albert Pub on his itinerary. But just a year after its creation, the image was transported to New York and sold at auction.

Banksy's work inspired the Russian art group Blue Noses to create the controversial photograph "Era of Mercy" (2004). Three years later, Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov named the exhibition Tretyakov Gallery in Paris (2007), where it was planned to present this work, and then completely accused the Tretyakov directorate of deliberate provocation. Sokolov promised to do everything to ensure that the photograph did not end up at the review. The photograph did not participate in the exhibition “Sots Art. Political Art in Russia”, but it was included in the FIAC international art fair, which took place in Paris at the same time.

£10 with Princess Diana (2004)

In 2004, Banksy produced a batch of 10-pound notes, where the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was replaced by a portrait of the deceased Lady Di, and the inscription "Bank of England" was corrected to "Banksy of England". It’s difficult to say whether the joke was a success: several banknotes were handed out at the Notting Hill Carnival festival, the bills began to diverge, and almost no one noticed the difference until the artist himself realized that he had unwittingly become a counterfeiter:

"I printed a million pounds and wanted to just throw it off the roof, but I gave some away at a festival and they went and spent it. You know, 'I'll have two beers,' they gave them a beer. Nobody noticed! And when it happened, we we realized: we forged a million! And for this you can get punished for ten years. And now I have them lying around and I don’t know what to do with them,” he tells his friend in the documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”

In October 2007, an uncut sheet of ten such notes was auctioned at Bonhams for 24 thousand pounds.

Napalm (2004)

The graffiti depicts American cultural icons Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse holding hands with a crying naked girl. Her image is taken from the photo "Napalm", which was taken on June 8, 1972 by Associated Press photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner Nick Ut during the Vietnam War. A 9-year-old girl flees her home in the Tran Ban district with her brother and other children after a heavy bombing. Children run along the road leading from Saigon towards the border with Cambodia, where there was also a fire going on at that time. Civil War and the territories were constantly under attack by the US Air Force.

There is no need to comment on this work by Banksy. By coincidence, it is this particular print - flagellating the consumer society - that is most popular in America, and is replicated on T-shirts, mugs and other souvenirs.

Graffiti in Palestine (2005)

In the summer of 2005, Banksy traveled to Palestine. Contrary to UN protests, a multi-meter concrete barrier between Palestine and Israel was erected on the West Bank of the Jordan River. The artist used the wall as a 425-mile-long canvas to express his reaction to the events of the time. Every morning on his website he published another drawing from the wall with a caustic caption: “Holiday snapshot.” The characters in the graffiti most often became children, as the main victims of the military conflict, and the wall was necessarily destroyed in the plot of the illustration.

Banksy later explained the message on his website:

"The Israeli government is building a wall around the occupied Palestinian territories. It is three times as tall as Berlin Wall, and the length ultimately reaches 700 km - the distance from London to Zurich. The wall violates international law and essentially turns Palestine into the world's largest open prison."

Crumpled Phone Booth (2006)

The sculpture stood in London's Soho for only one night - and during that night it managed to cause a heated discussion. The townspeople were divided into two camps: the first saw the telephone booth “killed” with an ice pick as high modern art, the second saw a mockery of the main symbol of London. The British Telecommunications company regarded the work as a reaction to the message about rebranding and intention to abandon classic look pay phones.

"Someone is really annoyed by our phone booths!" - comments a passing lady in the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop".

There is a version that this is a kind of mourning by the artist for the passing culture of live communication in the era of the development of the Internet and social networks.

Naked Man Hanging from Window (2006)

The graffiti was painted on the wall of a sexually transmitted disease clinic on Park Street in the center of Bristol. The plot of the illustration is eternal: a completely naked lover hangs from the windowsill, and a jealous husband looks out of the window in the other direction, his wife in underwear behind him. And as soon as the man in the suit turns his head in the other direction, the couple will be caught in an awkward situation.

The city council decided to preserve the drawing and even paid for its restoration after vandals shot it with a paintball gun. Since then, the authorities have begun to treat graffiti as art (albeit still prohibited), and it is considered vandalism to paint over the works of street artists. But even despite this, Banksy still remains incognito - he has broken the law too many times.

Guantanamo Bay Prisoner at American Disneyland (2006)

On the eve of the next anniversary of September 11, when Banksy was preparing for an exhibition in Los Angeles, he came up with the idea of making an installation on the theme of suspected terrorists sitting in Guantanamo Bay. At Disneyland, he installed a mannequin dressed in a prisoner's uniform next to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. The doll stood there for an hour and a half until it was noticed. The management stopped the attraction and began to close the park piece by piece, “suddenly it turned out that this was very, very serious.” The artist's goal was to draw attention to the situation of prisoners at the American Guantanamo Bay base after cases of torture of prisoners became known.

Naturally, it is technically impossible for Banksy to act alone; there is, albeit very narrow circle people who know him and whom he can trust unconditionally. That day at Disneyland added one more to the list: Frenchman Thierry Guetta. The future Mr Brainwash, who recorded the entire process on camera, was detained next to Banksy’s installation and subjected to a four-hour interrogation.

"When Thierry stood up to all of Mickey Mouse's security, didn't flinch, didn't give up, he hid the tape in his sock - after that I trusted him with everything. He was my man."

Film "Exit through the Gift Shop" (2010)

Initially, the film was not shot by Banksy at all, but by the same Thierry Guetta. He was obsessed with videography and constantly said that he was making documentaries about street art. He was the first (and probably the last) person with a camera whom Banksy let into the work process:

“Thierry became something of an outlet for me: I hid everything for so many years that it was time to trust someone.”

The film never really came to fruition; Banksy did the editing himself, and instead of a film about a guerrilla artist from Bristol, a story about how Mr. Brainwash was born was released. In fact, Mizgoprav is also a kind of brainchild of Banksy, because it was Banksy who encouraged Thierry Guetta to engage in art, showed how to work with stencils, and gave a recommendation to his first exhibition.

Banksy's works

Banksy(Banksy) is a brilliant street artist, director and political activist originally from England. Banksy's works are exhibited famous galleries and is valued at millions of dollars. Banksy's street art has gained popularity due to his works including. The scale and geography of the street works he painted makes one wonder and follow his work. Banksy is known to many, but no one has seen his face, which is why his mysterious personality and refusal of accounts in in social networks creates intrigue around his personality. At the beginning of his work, he behaved like an ordinary graffiti writer. Later I began to create original and ideological black and white stencils. Banksy always acted quickly and irrevocably, which distinguished his manifesto from other artists. He demonstrates street art on the street and primarily for city residents. Over time, the themes of Banksy's street art works began to be socially significant and political in nature and have deep content. In every work painted on a wall, roof, facade or end of a store, Banksy puts his hidden meaning, which only he knows about.

Who is Banksy?

Banksy still does not reveal his real name and continues to create street art objects, stencils and paintings. Since he manages to maintain anonymity throughout his entire career, there is no reliable information about his biography. There are only assumptions that he was born in 1974 in the city of Bristol, England.

Read the biography and see 100 photos of Banksy's best works.

Banksy: artist, 100 graffiti photos of works

All of Banksy's street art works are illegal, so no one knows his travel routes. Every day it becomes more and more difficult for him to hide from the police. To quickly complete planned art projects, the artist has to work at night and use stencil technology. Banksy chooses public, crowded places for his shocking graffiti in order to get the greatest public response. Banksy's official website is visited by tens of thousands every day, but in order to improve the quality of his work, we made one of the most best selections his street street art works, large-scale projects, stencils and installations.

Banksy stencils

His paintings on the walls of buildings, asphalt, fences and bridges of cities around the world are accompanied by phrases and epithets of political and social trends, enliven and transform the city landscape into another space. At one of the exhibitions in hometown Bologna he invited his creative colleague.

Film about street art - Exit through the souvenir shop

His first debut as a director occurred in 2010 in Banksy's film Exit Through the Gift Shop. At the Sundance Film Festival, the film was presented as the world's first street art "disaster film." The film tells the story of street art artists and Banksy himself. American cinema It was nominated by the Academy for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category. It grossed more than $5 million at the box office.

P183 R.I.P.

In 2013 after tragic death Russian artist Banksy posted on his website a can of spray paint in the shape of a burning candle in honor of his eternal memory, with the caption “P183 R.I.P.” at the bottom.

At the 18th annual Webby Awards in 2014, Banksy was awarded the title of "Person of the Year". In February 2015, the artist traveled incognito to the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Videos and photos about this event can be viewed.

Nowadays, Banksy's art works are valued at millions of dollars. The real estate on which they are drawn significantly exceeds the cost of nearby buildings. Therefore, their damage is equivalent to vandalism. Artist Banksy continues to paint and delight his fans with new works of street art in the most unusual places.

Art lovers, public figures and graffiti artists who love Banksy’s creativity is of interest due to the bright, patriotic and highly social nature of the projects. He is recognized outstanding figure artistic arts. Loyal fans follow all the new works of the elusive graffiti guru. “SOME become police officers to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals to make the world look better,” says Banksy.

Where is the Banksy exhibition in Moscow?

The exhibition takes place at the Central House of Artists ( Central house artist on Krymsky Val). Address: Krymsky Val, 10;
opened in 2018 (Central House of Artists), which is very popular among fans of his work.
August 15, 2018 - Banksy stated that he has nothing to do with the exhibition in Moscow. Read more about this situation.

« Pulp Fiction" © Banksy

Banksy has long been the most famous street artist in the world - it's hard to argue with that. His work constantly appears on the streets and in galleries in different countries, and at the same time he still manages to maintain anonymity. The mystery of Banksy's identity further fuels interest in both the artist himself and his work. In 2008, journalist Claudia Joseph published in the English newspaper The Mail On Sunday under the headline: “Graffiti artist Banksy exposed as a former public school student from a middle-class suburb.” We bring to your attention a translation of this interesting and very thorough journalistic investigation.

"Flower Thrower" © Banksy

He is probably the most famous living artist. Some consider him a genius, others - a vandal. He is always contradictory, and equally evokes admiration and anger. Since Banksy became famous for his guerrilla stencil art in public places: on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even West Bank Jordan River - his works sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Among his collectors are dozens of stars: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera.

He also became famous for his daring antics that made headlines: he left an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner at Disneyland in California, and hung a reproduction of the Mona Lisa with a “smiley face” in the Louvre. But perhaps the biggest provocation that constantly haunts the minds of the public is that Banksy's identity has always been a mystery, a jealously guarded secret known only to a few trusted friends.

Banksy's personality is surrounded by myths. As if his real name was Robin Banks. That he used to be a butcher. That his parents don’t know what their son is doing and think that he is a very successful artist and decorator. There is also a hypothesis that Banksy is actually a collective of artists, and a person with that name does not exist. Banksy's identity is such a source of curiosity that when he throws a pizza box into a trash bin in Los Angeles, it appears on eBay: the man who put it up for auction believes that the anchovies left in the box may contain traces of the artist's DNA .

© Banksy

He is the Scarlet Pimpernel ( The Scarlet Pimpernel is the hero of Emma Oritsa's novel of the same name about a British aristocratic spy who operated in France during the Age of Terror - approx. ed.) contemporary art, who is so adept at covering his tracks that even his agent claims he's not sure who he is. Indeed, identifying the elusive Banksy has proven to be as difficult as predicting where his next work will appear. But now, after an exhaustive year-long investigation during which we spoke to dozens of friends, former colleagues, enemies, neighbors and members of Banksy's family, The Mail On Sunday has come close to unraveling Banksy's identity. The man we think of as Banksy is not a inner-city bully, but, perhaps predictably, a former public school student from a middle-class suburb.

Our search began with a photograph taken in Jamaica of a smiling man in a blue shirt and jeans with a can of spray paint at his feet. The photo was taken four years ago ( in 2004 - approx. ed.), and is believed to depict Banksy at work. When the photograph was published, it was the first crack in the armor of anonymity with which the artist had surrounded himself since his work began to attract the attention of people from the art world. Naturally, Banksy said that it was not him in the photo. By the way, Banksy and everyone around him constantly deny everything.

“Laugh, but someday we will be in power.” © Banksy

© Banksy

Armed with this image, we traveled to Bristol, long known to be the artist's hometown, and met a man who claimed to have met Banksy in person. Of course, many people claim to have met Banksy in person, but when you start asking questions, it turns out that they “know someone who knows Banksy” and the trail is lost. However, this man said that he not only knew the elusive artist, but also revealed his name to us. The story became fascinating because the name was not the usual variation on the "Banks" theme. He claims that the man in the photograph used to be called Robin Gunningham: it doesn't take much imagination to guess how that name gave rise to the pseudonym "Banksy" ( Ben - shortened version of the name Robin - approx. ed.).

From the data in open access, we managed to glean something else. Robin's father, Peter Gordon Gunningham (1942), is a retired former contract manager who lives in the Whitehall area of Bristol. Mother - Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones (1941) - worked as a secretary and was never outside the Clifton area of Bristol. She now works in a nursing home. The couple married on April 25, 1970 at Kingswood Wesley Methodist Church. On February 8, 1972, their daughter Sarah was born at Bristol Maternity Hospital. By this time Peter had been promoted and the family bought their first home, a semi-detached flat in Bristol.

© Banksy

The house where Robin Gunningham lived as a child

On July 28, 1973, Robin was born in the same maternity hospital. According to neighbors, the boy underwent surgery at an early age because he was born with a cleft palate. When Robin turned ten, the family moved to a larger house on the same street: it was there that they passed school years Robin and his passion for graffiti began. A neighbor, Anthony Hallett, remembers how the couple, having just gotten married, came to this street and lived on it until 1998. After this they divorced. When we showed Mr. Hallett the photo from Jamaica, he said the man in the photo was Robin Gunningham.

In 1984, at the age of eleven, Robin wore a black jacket, gray trousers and a striped tie and attended the famous Bristol Cathedral School, which now costs £9,240 a year, and among former students - model Sophie Anderton. It's hard to imagine Banksy, who always rails against authority, as a public school student wandering through the former 17th-century monastery, with its courtyard, galleries and services in the ancient cathedral. However, when we found a school photo from 1989, it turned out that Robin Gunningham bears a striking resemblance to the man in the Jamaican photo. In addition, people who studied with Robin recall that he was a very gifted artist. Scott Nurse, an insurance agent in Robin's class, said, “He was one of three kids in our class who were incredibly talented in the arts. He drew a lot of illustrations. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is Banksy. He was also on the rugby team and I think he played hockey.”

Robin Gunningham at school, 1989

Bristol Cathedral and cathedral school

In one of his rare interviews, which Banksy always gives anonymously, the artist admitted that he became interested in graffiti at school. In 1983, the New York hip-hop group Rock Steady Crew visited Europe on tour: they performed at the annual British gala Royal Variety Performance along with graffiti writers. Their performance left a lasting impression on the future band Massive Attack and on Nick Walker, now a well-known artist and designer who created the sets for the films Eyes Wide Shut ( Eyes Wide Shut - last film Stanley Kubrick, 1999 - approx. ed.) and "Judge Dredd" ( Judge Dredd is a fantasy action film directed by Danny Cannon, filmed in 1995 - approx. ed.).

They say that Banksy's passion for art ruined his relationship with his family. This is what a former neighbor, Mr. Hallett, said: “Their family was always very pleasant. I'm not sure, but I think Robin was a graffiti artist. He worked for others and did not come home for months. He led a wandering lifestyle. I won't say he went off the rails, but his relationship with his family deteriorated. Most likely, this happened because he did not live up to their expectations. After he left home, he just disappeared."

© Banksy

In 1985, the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol hosted an exhibition called “Graffiti Art in Britain”: during the event, writers painted directly on the walls of the gallery and the hip-hop group The Wild Bunch, which later became famous, performed like Massive Attack. In a 2006 interview with pop culture magazine Swindle, Banksy said: “I come from a small town in the south of England. When I was ten years old, a guy nicknamed was constantly drawing on the street. I think he visited New York and brought back graffiti from there. I grew up seeing graffiti on the streets of Bristol long before I saw graffiti in magazines or on the computer. 3D quit painting and created the band Massive Attack: for him it was probably good, but for the city it was a loss. At school we all loved graffiti. We drew on the bus on the way home. Literally everyone was doing graffiti.”

© Banksy

At the age of sixteen, Robin Gunningham, having passed his final exams and received a certificate, took up street art. The following year, as part of Operation Anderson, undercover police officers arrested seventy-two street artists across Britain and charged them with criminal damage. Among those arrested was Tom Bingle, also known as Inkie, a graffiti artist who is considered an associate of Banksy and is now the head of design at production company Sega. computer games. Bingle was tried but ultimately acquitted. Robin Gunningham was not arrested. There is no mention of Banksy in the records. The artist himself admitted that he had become an expert in evading meetings with the police.

© Banksy

In his book Wall And Piece, Banksy writes: “When I was eighteen, one night I tried to write in big silver letters on the side of a train: “Late Again.” The transport police showed up, and I tore all my clothes to shreds, escaping through the thorny bushes. My comrades got to the car and drove away, and I spent more than an hour, lying under a dump truck from which oil was pouring on me. While I was lying there and listening to the police, I realized that I needed to cut my drawing time in half or stop. I was looking at the stenciled lettering on the bottom of the fuel tank and realized I could just copy the style and make the letters a meter tall. Eventually I made it home and climbed into bed. I told my girlfriend that I had an epiphany and she told me to stop doing drugs because it was 'bad for the heart.'

Banksy's book Wall And Piece

As the investigation progressed, our inquiries time and time again revealed facts that coincided with what was already known about Banksy. In 1998, Robin Gunningham was living in the Easton area of Bristol with Luke Egan, who was exhibiting his work with Banksy at Santa's Ghetto, an art store that opened in London's West End in 2001. m year, around Christmas. Despite this, when we contacted Egan, he initially denied that he rented an apartment with Banksy or Robin Gunningham. However, it was known that he participated in an exhibition with Banksy, and the list of voters said that he lived with Robin Gunningham. As a result, Egan said: "I shared a flat with a guy called Robin Gunningham. But..." - "Are you saying he wasn't Banksy?" - "I wasn't then. I lived with him for a very long time. In any case, I don't think Banksy even existed then."

It is believed Egan and Gunningham moved out of the apartment when the owner decided to sell the house. Camilla Stacey, a curator at Bristol's Here Gallery who bought the house in 2000, claims Banksy and Robin Gunningham are the same person. She knows that Banksy lived in this house because his works remained there, and she received letters addressed to Robin Gunningham. “I bought the house where Banksy used to live,” she says. - He rented a room, but, it seems to me, there were some troubles with other tenants, and the owner decided to sell it. When I moved into the house, everything was covered in graffiti and stuff like that. I threw everything away. At the time, Banksy was just another guy painting on the streets of Bristol. Another graffiti artist in Bristol. Sometimes when I think about it, I can't sleep." Really, who wouldn't regret throwing away works that would most likely be worth tens of thousands today?

Work created at Walls On Fire in Bristol, 1998

In 1998, Banksy and Inky, together with other artists, organized the Walls On Fire project: they painted a 365-meter-long fence in Bristol port. In an unofficial biography of Banksy entitled "Bristol Banksy": home" (Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home), which was written by local writer Steve Wright, quotes Inky: "I helped Banksy organize the event, but then I went into the shadows and got drunk, if I'm not mistaken."

"The Soft, Soft West." © Banksy

In 1999, Banksy painted a work in Bristol, on Stokes Croft Street in Easton, on the wall opposite the Subway Records store, entitled “Soft, Soft West” ( Mild Mild West - obviously played out set phrase Wild Wild West - "wild, wild West" - approx. ed.), which depicts a teddy bear with a Molotov cocktail in his hand. Jim Paine, founder of Subway Records, held the ladder. “I had met Banksy some time before, in the mid-to-late 1990s, when he was renting a room in Easton, a couple of streets away from me,” he says in Wrights' book.

“The whole state is under video surveillance.” © Banksy

“Buy until you drop.” © Banksy

After living in London for some time, Banksy returned to Bristol in February 2000 for his first exhibition. It took place in the Severnshed restaurant, a former boathouse designed by Brunel ( Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a famous British engineer who lived in the 19th century, one of large figures in the history of the Industrial Revolution - approx. ed.). All works were sold on the opening day of the exhibition. “This was the first time he had ever created work on canvas,” curator Robert Birse told us last week. “He had no idea how to stretch a canvas or prepare a work for an exhibition, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do.” I don't even know his name. He has a set of pseudonyms that he uses with the people he works with, but then he only allowed his old comrades to work. I think I paid him cash [for the works sold at the exhibition]. I could write a blank check or pay cash.”

In the early 2000s, Banksy moved to London - again coinciding with Robin Gunningham's move. Robin lived in east London, in Hackney, on Kingsland Road. He shared a flat with Jamie Eastman, who worked for the Bristol record company Hombre. Banksy has painted several covers for albums released by this company.

Cover 1998 © Banksy

Cover 2000 © Banksy

In 2001, Banksy had his first unofficial exhibition in London, during which he spray-painted twelve works on the washed walls of a tunnel on Rivington Street in the Shoreditch area of Hackney (Rivington, Shoreditch). However worldwide fame the exhibition Turf War brought him ( English "war for territory", "struggle for power"), which took place in July 2003 in a warehouse located literally meters from the apartment that Robin Gunningham rented. The exhibition featured live pigs and cows, one of which featured many Andy Warhol heads. The Queen of England was depicted as a monkey. The animal rights activist chained herself to a fence in protest, but the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals allowed the exhibition to go ahead. That same year, Banksy, pretending to be a pensioner, came to the Tate Modern gallery and pasted a painting condemning the war in Iraq on the wall: the image hung for two and a half hours.

Painting by Edouard Manet " A parody of E. Manet’s painting “Luncheon on the Grass.” © Banksy

Robin's mother, Pamela, lives in a neat one-story house in a village near Bristol. After explaining that we were journalists, we asked if she had a son named Robin. She reacted very strangely. We showed her a photo from Jamaica. It was clear that she was stunned, and she said that she did not recognize the man from the photograph, who, by the way, looked very much like her. We asked if she could help us contact him. She replied: “I'm afraid I don't know how to contact him.” So she does have a son named Robin after all? “No, no. I don’t have a son at all.” We asked if she had children. “Yes, I have a daughter.” But she doesn't have a son who went to Bristol Cathedral School? "No". She began to deny that she was Pamela Gunningham, insisting that there was an error in the electoral rolls.

Works created for the album Think Tank by Blur. © Banksy

"Girl-astronaut and bird"

Speaking to Peter Gunningham, who now lives in the Kingsdown suburb of Bristol, we were also very puzzled. We showed a photo of Banksy/Robin Gunningham. Mr Gunningham said he did not recognize the man in the picture. We said we thought his son was Banksy. He replied: “No. I'm afraid I really can't help you." Mr Gunninghay continued to politely deny that his son was Banksy, although he did not seem very serious. He refused to say anything about Robin. It was all very strange. If they had never heard of Banksy or Robin Gunningham, they would be at a loss. But something was wrong here. Then we contacted the person in charge of Banksy’s public relations, and in the best traditions of Banksy, he neither confirmed nor denied our story and promised to contact us. When the material went to press, we were still waiting for his response.

Banksy once told Swindle magazine: “I have no interest in revealing my identity. I think there are already enough arrogant assholes trying to block you with their ugly faces.” Given that Banksy has been successfully covering his tracks for a very long time, it is of course possible that the trail we were following was false, that it was a well-thought-out deception. But if this is so, then this is the most elaborate scheme of subterfuge that has ever been invented. And if that's the case, then where is Robin Gunningham?

The attention of the FURFUR editors has always been focused on the works of street artists and, naturally, on the figure of the most famous of them - the Bristol hoaxer Banksy. Behind last year he managed to make his own film, become the hero of documentaries and books, release his own collection of caps, draw several new works, and so on. FURFUR has already written about some events, but in this material we decided to collect all the most important things for the year - both those we described earlier and those that remained behind the scenes.

Documentary on Channel 4

In early August, the British television channel Channel 4 released a fifty-minute documentary dedicated to the war between two graffiti artists - Banksy and Robbo. Robbo is a kind of king of English street art, his tags on London Underground cars began to appear in the early eighties, and many also call him the man who shaped everything distinctive features British street art. But Robbo has long since retired as a graffiti artist, leaving behind an army of followers and several famous tags on walls around the world.

One of these tags was located in London on a wall near a canal - it was probably the only remaining reminder of the former greatness of the graffiti artist King Robbo, which the young provocateur from Bristol Banksy at the end of 2009 almost completely sketched and turned into his own work (in the image above), which provoked the outbreak of war between him and Robbo, and in to a greater extent- between groups of fans of one and the other. Robbo had to get down to business again: first, he responded to Banksy on the same wall, and then called him “a toy in the hands of a group of PR people.” How it all ended and who actually took part in this war can be found out in the Channel 4 documentary.

Collection of 7 Union caps with works by Banksy

Just a week ago, the Japanese brand 7 Union released a real gift for fans of graffiti artist Banksy - a series of caps with several of his works. These are classic five-panels that will be available for sale in mid-November in the brand’s online store. All photos of caps can be viewed in this material.

Unauthorized exhibition and stolen Banksy works

At the end of August, unknown people stole several parts of the walls with pictures painted on them. famous works Banksy is from Palestine, and the owners of the Keszler Gallery and Bankrobber Gallery exhibited this without special permission. Initially, only a video appeared on the Internet showing how these parts of the walls were packed and transported from Palestine to England, but at that time there was no reliable information that this was not another provocation. Until photographs have appeared from the Keszler gallery, where the exhibition is taking place and anyone can look at Banksy's works, which were supposed to remain on the walls of Palestine. This event greatly angered the artist’s fans and provoked many scandals. Below you can watch the very first video published by the owners of Keszler Gallery.

Book of Myths and Legends Associated with Banksy

In early October, Gingko Press published a book by journalist and writer Mark Leverton, Banksy: Myths & Legends, in which he tried to collect all sorts of myths and legends that the famous graffiti artist Banksy managed to create around his mysterious image. It took the author more than three years to compile all the materials for this hundred-page publication - during this time he himself lived in Bristol, Banksy’s hometown, and communicated with his immediate circle. The book costs only ten dollars and can already be ordered on Amazon.

Mark Leverton, book author: “For me, all these stories associated with the figure of Banksy are direct proof of his incredible courage, originality and ability to think damn outside the box. This book is a true celebration of anarchy and the spirit of protest."

Lost work on one of the walls of Berlin

In mid-September, one of Banksy's works, painted by him in 2003 during an art festival at the Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien gallery, was restored in Berlin. The graffiti, titled Every Picture Tells a Lie, depicted soldiers with wings and smiley faces instead of faces, and was covered over with several layers of paint and other designs. Also, a little earlier, specialists restored another work by Banksy, Gorilla in a Pink Mask, painted over in Bristol by the administrator of a cultural center who had never heard of Banksy and simply decided to whitewash the walls.

Documentary film by Banksy

At the beginning of August this year, Banksy filmed and published a documentary about hooligan pranks and anarchist actions. The hour-long television film was shown on the British Channel 4. The heroes of The Antics Roadshow (the title parodies the title of the Antiques Roadshow program) were, among others, the British Michael Fagan, who broke into the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace in 1982, and the Belgian Noel Gaudin, who threw cakes in Bill Gates, Nicolas Sarkozy, Bernard Henri-Levi, Maurice Bejart and Jean-Luc Godard. The film also featured the first interview with the man who placed the grass mohawk on the head of the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in London.

In addition, the film shows the actions of the Russian art group “War”. Earlier, Banksy organized a sale of his posters, and donated all the proceeds (about 4.5 million rubles) to the needs of “War”. The Antics Roadshow was posted on YouTube in parts, below is the second of them.

Sculpture near St. Paul's Cathedral

Just last week Banksy unveiled his new sculpture near St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The composition is a large field for playing Monopoly, in its center is the figure of a bankrupt millionaire who holds out his top hat for donations. Banksy presented the new sculpture to activists of the scandalous Occupy Wall Street movement.

Road sign in England

At the end of summer, a new work by Banksy appeared on the Internet. In his next work, he greatly departed from his usual style - provocative social stencil drawings and inscriptions. This time the Englishman's creation took more simple form- automobile road sign, installed on the side of the road, with the message: “Welcome to the West Country. Please don't make fun of our accent."

Painting on a wall in Bristol

This summer, a serious scandal erupted in the journalistic community, which was associated with the fact that employees of The News of The Worls newspaper, a cultural weekly that positioned itself as a sister newspaper to The Sun, were wiretapping the telephone conversations of stars. The scandal ended with James Murdoch, the son of the owner of The News of the World and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, announced the closure of the newspaper - now there is a stub on the publication’s website with the inscription “Thank you and bye.” A little later - on August 5 - a photograph of his new work appeared on Banksy’s official website, ridiculing the situation described above.

Another short film about Banksy - B Movie

This summer another one appeared online short film, dedicated to Banksy - B Movie. This picture lasts only thirteen minutes and talks about early work the artist - why he chose this particular style, why he uses stencils, whose works he was inspired by, and so on. Almost the entire film consists of interviews with Banksy himself and with people who knew him well personally when he was not yet so famous: 3D from the group Massive Attack, artist Damien Hirst, some English gallery owners and just his close friends. The entire tape was posted on YouTube.

Works of the mysterious street artist, known under the pseudonym Banksy, has amazed the public for the second decade. His drawings attract thousands of tourists to initially unremarkable street objects (shabby walls, water pipes, entrance doors), and also go under the hammer at auctions for thousands - and even millions! – dollars.

Just the other day, on his official website, Banksy announced that he was going to spend a month in New York, covering the walls of his houses with his creativity.

In the meantime, new works have not yet come out from under his pen (or, more precisely, a can of spray paint), “ Interesting Planet» invites you to look into the past and get acquainted with the most sensational works of the artist.

1. In 2003, Banksy organized an exhibition called “Turf War” (“Turf War”) in a warehouse in the East End of London. A couple of days later, the exhibition was closed at the insistence of the authorities.

2. Work from the controversial series of paintings that he painted in 2005 on the wall dividing Israel and Palestine.

3. This 2005 painting, painted on a London street corner, depicts Charles Manson (a notorious serial killer currently serving a life prison sentence) as a hitchhiker.

4. This 2006 work is widely interpreted as a criticism of the British government. Two months after its appearance, it was painted over.

5. A live painted elephant was part of the secret exhibition "Barely Legal" held in Los Angeles in 2006.

6. After this graffiti appeared on the wall of a house in Bristol in 2006, the city authorities conducted a survey among residents on whether it should be removed or not. 97% of Bristol residents voted to save the painting.

7. On this satirical work 2007 depicts a painter tired of painting street markings.

8. This dove was part of the installation “Santa's Ghetto” (an annual street exhibition by Banksy), created in Bethlehem during Christmas time in 2007.

9. In 2008, the London Tunnel near Waterloo Station was turned into a giant exhibition.

10. Some have speculated that this 2008 graffiti is a play on the proposed ban on plastic bags by some British organisations.

11. One of the paintings that appeared on the walls of New Orleans in 2008, when Banksy visited the city on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Translation: “I shouldn’t repeat what I see on The Simpsons.”

12. While painting this wall of one of the London pubs, Banksy still appeared slightly on the video camera.

13. The artist mockingly placed this painting from 2008 directly under the CCTV camera.

14. Graffiti with hippie symbols in San Francisco. 2010

15. This boy on the wall of the Californian city of Westwood shoots colored markers instead of cartridges.