Plenty of people reckon they know who Banksy is. Admittedly, it’s usually people that have had a few pints down at your local with a slender connection to the art world: ‘yeah, me and Banksy, Chris as I called him, used to do tags and sniff glue down central…’
But nonetheless, there’s plenty of people who lay claim to knowing exactly who he is. Whether it’s speculation that he’s actually the renowned artist Damien Hirst, or highbrow links to other shady street artists like D*Face, everyone has a theory.
In fact, just searching “Banksy real name” right now will give you more than 460,000 results.
What hasn’t happened before though is a science-backed investigation into his identity (probably because there are more important things like curing cancer to worry about), until now though, obviously, otherwise this article would be utterly pointless.
Check out Banksy's most striking work...
According to scientists at the Queen Mary University of London, the real name of Banksy is Robin Gunningham. A public schoolboy with a talent for art.
Using a technique called scientific profiling the boffins managed to pull together various spurious correlations and misplaced facts to finally solve the puzzle.
The process itself involves identifying patterns between where the graffiti appears and any addresses they had for Gunningham (which seems quite basic to us…), creating a statistical geoprofile.
Allegedly the results were delayed in being published due to Banksy’s lawyers (UNTIL NOW!!) trying to prevent the report being released (which seems like Banksy probably is Robin to us…).
“What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any,” said Steve Le Comber, co-author of the study to the BBC. “But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is.”
The technique used is supposedly very accurate, often used to catch serial criminals before they strike again and to determine where malaria is most likely to hit next. Two very important but very different things.
We hope this doesn’t drive the artist into hiding anytime soon.
Who is Banksy?
- Highly suggested to be Robin Gunningham
- Former pupil at Bristol Cathedral School
- Works using spray piant and stencilling, a technique he credits to an artist named 3D
- Most of his work is laden with political and social themes
- Also created a documentary: Exit Through The Gift Shop
- Entry to the theme park Dismaland opened last year
