{"id":525734,"date":"2026-03-15T22:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/525734\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T22:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:14:08","slug":"guerrilla-artist-banksy-finally-unmasked-by-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/525734\/","title":{"rendered":"Guerrilla artist Banksy finally unmasked by investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The infamous graffiti artist known as\u00a0Banksy<\/a>\u00a0has finally been unmasked \u2014 after changing his name to something so generic he could hide in plain sight.<\/p>\n

The notorious guerrilla street artist, whose polarizing works have sold for millions of dollars, was identified as Robin Gunningham, 51, the English city of Bristol, in a detailed\u00a0investigation by Reuters<\/a>\u00a0on Friday.<\/p>\n

The report found that Gunningham changed his name to David Jones\u2014one of the most common male British names\u2014in 2008 to avoid identification.<\/p>\n

Banksy\u2019s infamous artwork, \u201cLove Is in the Bin.\u201d AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one of the most popular names in Britain, so common it helps him hide in plain sight,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

As part of their investigation, reporters pulled information from a trip to war-torn Ukraine<\/a>, where he was photographed and spoke with locals; a falling out with Jamaican photographer Peter Dean Rickards; and a 2000 NYPD arrest report including a signed, handwritten confession.<\/p>\n

Gunningham\/Jones has previously been identified as Banksy \u2014 dating back to a Mail on Sunday report in 2008. However, Reuters reporters pieced together several forensic pieces of evidence to come to their conclusions. <\/p>\n

Robin Gunningham, believed to be the artist known as Banksy. Dinendra Haria\/LNP \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s authors say they have also disproven the theory that Banksy was really musician Robert Del Naja, frontman of famed Bristol group Massive Attack.<\/p>\n

Confusingly, their investigation found that Del Naja was also in Ukraine in 2022, but Reuters reported that he was there with Gunningham.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Banksy did not respond immediately to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Banksy\u2019s street art has polarized critics. Getty Images<\/p>\n

In a statement, the artist\u2019s lawyer, Mark Stephens, told Reuters that his client \u201cdoes not accept that many of the details contained within your enquiry are correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banksy maintains his anonymity because he has \u201cbeen subjected to fixated, threatening and extremist behavior,\u201d Stephens added.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Working] anonymously or under a pseudonym serves vital societal interests. It protects freedom of expression by allowing creators to speak truth to power without fear of retaliation, censorship or persecution\u2014particularly when addressing sensitive issues such as politics, religion or social justice,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n

Another Banksy artwork in London. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reuters defended naming Banksy, arguing that \u201cthe public has a deep interest in understanding the identity and career of a figure with his profound and enduring influence on culture, the art industry and international political discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Banksy\u2019s most famous works are \u201cGirl With Balloon<\/a>,\u201d a simple stencil drawing of a young girl letting go of a red, heart-shaped balloon that, mistifyingly, was named as the British public\u2019s favorite piece of British art in one opinion poll.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the design was at the center of a stunt when a framed copy of the work was shredded after being sold at auction by a mechanical device Banksy had hidden within the frame.<\/p>\n

The artist confirmed he was\u00a0responsible for the shredding<\/a>, later giving the altered piece the new name, \u201cLove Is in the Bin.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was later\u00a0sold for $25.4 million<\/a>\u00a0in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The infamous graffiti artist known as\u00a0Banksy\u00a0has finally been unmasked \u2014 after changing his name to something so generic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1029,228,226,227,28942,229,88,45451,92431,108303,1049,965],"class_list":["post-525734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-banksy","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-graffiti","tag-modern-art","tag-street-art","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}