Banksy, an England-based street artist, has been making headlines due to his art. His secret identity shielded by a pseudonym has got the Internet abuzz, especially since his artworks have been reportedly going missing for a couple of weeks now. With netizens trying to figure out who’s the elusive artist, here’s all that we know about the mystery man so far.
Born in Bristol, Banksy is a freehand graffiti artist who rose to fame in 2003 for his politically-charged art pieces – stenciled figures of humans and animals drawn all over the walls of the city. His first piece was painted in 1993. It was in 2003, during the Turf War, he drew on live pigs. At the 2005 Crude Oils exhibition, he released some 200 rats in a London gallery.
In 2005, he drew on a wall on the Palestinian side of the West Bank. The painting encompassed children playing when viewed from a side, but when viewed through a hole in the wall, one could see a tropical beach. In 2006, Banksy created the “Barely Legal” installation in a Los Angeles warehouse, where he controversially decorated a live elephant. That same year in Bristol, he painted a naked man clinging to a windowsill on the side of a public family-planning clinic—a mural that local residents voted to keep.
In 2008, Banksy launcehd the Cans Festival, a play on the Cannes Film Festival, where he and other global artists decorated a South London rail tunnel with airbrush paintings, inviting visitors to contribute their own art.
In addition to his street art, Banksy has authored books like Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall and Wall and Piece, documenting his projects and works. He also directed the 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary profiling the world’s most talented graffiti artists.
It was in 2015 that Banksy undertook his most elaborate project: “Dismaland,” a temporary amusement park and conceptual art show in Weston-super-Mare, England. The park hosted late-night parties, concerts, and other artists’ works before closing after a month.
During Brexit, Banksy made a statement by painting a mural of the EU flag on a building wall, depicting a labourer removing one of the stars from the flag.
Banksy’s relationship with auctions has been anything but ordinary. His piece Girl with Balloon (2006), a canvas version of one of his most famous murals, famously self-destructed by partially shredding just after it sold for $1.4 million at an auction.
Amid widespread speculation about the stunt, Banksy took credit by posting a video revealing the prank.
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