Banksy outed
The man in this photograph, taken in Jamaica four years ago, is believed to be Banksy. From here.
Yup. And it’s pretty much what we’d expect. And I hate that it matters – his work is just as good (or bad, depending who you ask; I think he pretty much rocks, if you care to know) as it was two days ago…. I like Francesca Gavin at the Guardian’s take:
Gasp, horror! Banksy isn’t a fictional character. His cover has been blown. He’s an actual person who makes art. Worse than that, according to the Mail on Sunday, he went to public school. He’s middle class! He lived in suburbia! What did people expect? That just because he started with graffiti and grew into street art that he was some council estate hoodie with a knife?
The Mail on Sunday allegedly spent a year tracking him down – discovering the earth-shattering news that Banksy is a bloke called Robert Gunningham (who went to the same school as Sophie Anderton – though at different times). Spiced up with old interviews, the life the Mail describes is pretty dull. Bloke has middle management parents, goes to school, likes graffiti, makes some art, lives with some mates, moves to London from Bristol. Not exactly headline worthy.
Also, for those who don’t know already, the secret identity of Robert Sloon is Snoop.
