Who is he?

He's just a dude from England who makes street art. We once thought he might be the alter ego of fellow Brit stencil artist Nick Walker, but that's probably not the case—not exactly, at least. The Daily Mail says he's a guy from Bristol named Robin Gunningham, who has a Facebook page that may or may not be real. There may or may not be more than one photo of Banksy extant. Basically he's a big fucking mystery.

Why is he important?

Ha. "Important" is a subjective idea. But he's important artistically, because he is the single funniest and most incisive social critic working in street art today; and he's become a celebrity, making him important...to people who care about celebrities. Once his works started selling to Angelina Jolie and other assorted stars, his secret true identity became an item of even hotter speculation. But most Banksy fans loved the guy for his art long before they even knew he was a big secret.

Who cares about his identity?

If you're a Wu-Tang fan, you remember when Ghostface Killah first started rhyming, when he wore a stocking over his face in all photos. It was awesome. People who are self-proclaimed mysteries succeed immediately in making fans who would normally care little about their background start to obsessively wonder about them. But you have to give Banksy credit: any time in the past couple of years, he could have sold a big reveal of his identity to the highest bidder for a huge sum. The idea that he's staying secret out of fear of prosecution for vandalism is a little ridiculous; this is a guy who started as a vandal, but now has museums and town councils voting to keep his (illegal) works in place—sometimes even having city employees go back and touch up his pieces when they get painted over with more graffiti. He's probably just a guy who doesn't care to be treated like a superstar in public. The irony is that, by staying anonymous, he's pushed interest in himself up to mythical levels.

And?

Dig it:

An added dose of credibility: this picture is from the archives of the Rex photo service, and is labeled as "Graffiti artist Banksy," shown in the Sony Playstation Skate Park in London in 1999. The subhead reads, "'Banksy' as himself, probable real name Robin Banks, or Robin Gunningham from Bristol." Here it is:

Compare to the well-known 2004 photo:

Our source tells us that the 1999 picture was confirmed as Banksy by the photo agency. Which would mean that—if this is actually him—pictures showing the face of the most wondered-about anonymous artist in the world have been sitting around, forgotten, for nearly a decade.

[via Flickr]

See? It's a crucifix, submerged in urine. Get it?!

Gunningham, at far left, in back:

Gunningham, second from left, middle row:

Gunningham, back row, second from left (?):

The self-description:

And perhaps even more incriminating than his friends list:

• According to the Daily Mail, Banksy is a 34-year-old Bristol native named Robin Gunningham. The paper started with the one known photo of Banksy, taken in Jamaica several years ago (pictured above), and worked its way back through his hometown and beyond in a year-long investigation.
• A neighbor in the Bristol neighborhood where Gunningham grew up ID'd the Banksy photo as him.
• Friends at Gunningham's private school in Bristol described him as a talented artist. The neighbor said he lived a "nomadic" existence that upset his parents.
• Gunningham's roommate in Bristol in 1998 was a man named Luke Egan, who went on to exhibit art with Banksy. When questioned, Egan mumbled a lot and denied knowing anything.
• The landlady of the house that Gunningham and Egan shared says Gunningham was Banksy—because when he moved out he left a bunch of graffiti work in the house, which she threw out. Earlier published accounts of Banksy's life confirm he shared a house in the neighborhood at the time.
• "Banksy moved to London around the turn of the millennium, once again at the same time as a certain Robin Gunningham. Robin lived in a flat in Kingsland Road, Hackney, East London, with Jamie Eastman, who worked for Bristol's Hombre record label. Banksy drew a number of the record company's album covers."
• Banksy's first major London show in 2003 was in a warehouse "just yards" away from where Gunningham lived.
• When the Daily Mail went to see Gunningham's parents, both denied everything, including recognizing the picture, having a son, and being themselves.

We hazarded a guess in May that Banksy could be the alter ego of Nick Walker, another already-famous street artist. In the months since, various bits of information have led me to believe that that's not true—although the possibility certainly still exists that Banksy is actually a collective of artists, or has other artists helping him with his pieces.

The evidence here is pretty strong. Strangely, the paper couldn't track down Gunningham himself. But it's only a matter of time now. The Daily Mail tries to make an issue of the fact that Banksy grew up as a suburban schoolboy, but I don't think that's surprising at all; his art is pretty obviously a reaction against middle class mores.

Banksy, you'll always be cool to me. Even if your name is "Robin."

[Daily Mail]

[via And I Am Not Lying]

Theories have been put forth that Bravo doesn't really want to spend money on a show that it's losing, but I don't buy it. Look at all the promoting they did for their silly A List Awards. That was only for one night, and you'd have thought the pope was coming to town there was so much fanfare. There are still advertising and branding dollars to be made here, and Bravo has to know that. Others have suggested that the new cast members are total weirdos, and Bravo hasn't figured out how to represent them. Which is also hooey, because if you can market Andre and Vincent, you can market anyone. No, I like to think that Bravo is cooling the promotional jets out of good old fashioned spite. They're mad at Lifetime for poaching and they're mad at the Weinstein Co. for pulling the rug out from under them. They want to bury the show so by the time it gets over to Lifetime, no one will even remember that something called the L'Oreal Paris Makeup Room ever existed. Hell, their good friends the Magical Elves aren't producing once it goes to Lifetime, so they wouldn't really be screwing over any associates (except, you know, Heidi and Tim et al). And I think it's working!

I can't believe I didn't know that the new season was coming up so soon. I could be considered a "gay person" and a "big fan" of the show, never miss an episode, etc. And yet my interest, and it would seem the interest of others, has dwindled. Maybe it's because people realize that it's just a tacky moneymaking opportunity for greedy old Harvey Weinstein. Maybe the whole Nina Garcia kerfluffle tired people out. Or maybe the impending move to the ruined canyons of Los Angeles has got people scratching their heads and saying "Auf." Bravo's relative radio silence—their website has some PR-related content including a half-hearted countdown, but nothing substantial about the new season—has managed to compound and reduce all this gossipy buzz about the Changes for Heidi, which has the potential to lure in viewers, to a bored, resounding "meh." Way to fuck 'em, Bravo! Nobody fucks 'em like the gays.

Wait.

[Video via Curbed; Eliasson Waterfall at Brooklyn Bridge from rsguskind on Vimeo.]

The Dixie Chicks on Entertainment Weekly:

Tom Ford AND FRIENDS on Vanity Fair:

The Hills on Rolling Stone:

The Pussycat Dolls on crappy Blender:

ScarJo and Natalie Portman on W:

[Supertouch via Animal NY]

The musical numbers were relatively unremarkable, save for Patti LuPone's (also a winner last night) flaming "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and the creaky original cast of Rent who jiggled around on stage while the 400th replacement cast swayed awkwardly behind them. Oh, and the terrific Passing Strange looked and sounded great. I was disappointed that it didn't pick up more trophies ( show creator and star Stew won for best book of a musical). Host Whoopi Goldberg changed costumes a lot, like she did when hosting the Oscars a hundred and thirty-six years ago, most "amusingly" as a sassy black Mary Poppins. So Broadway theatre drums along another year, and the folks toiling away nobly in off-off-Broadway companies, and in regional theaters across the country, watch and sigh. Above is a clip of Glenn Close making an endearing ass of herself.

[ArabAquarius via Coudal]

[Stereo Hell via Copyranter]

The Tom of Finland fragrance is designed to smell like "a guy coming out of a shower" according to Antoine Lie, who creaqted it for Etat Libre d'Orange.

"He's clean, but not fragranced. And he puts on leather pants." Mr Lie added.

So it smells like Dial soap and leather pants. Mmm, masculinity.

Nick Denton's take: "The images are iconic, and ironic—but hardly inspiration for a fragrance."

[Telegraph UK via Queerty]

[omgowned]

[NYT]

"Anyone who calls it a hoax is misguided," says the diminutive, hyper 28-year-old. "They don't understand — there are many layers to this."

Oh really? Such as?

"My mission as an artist is to raise dialogue and conversation about substantive things," he says, staring through arty glasses that did not have any lenses. "There's so much media time spent on superficial things — like celebrities. My point is to bring substance back."

[Expert job of killing his subject with quotes, by the WP's David Segal]

[Flickr via Environmental Graffiti]

Arboleda was questioned for an hour and publicly denounced by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly before he was released. He was not charged with a crime. "It's my right as an artist to have that sign up," the defiant 27-year-old artist said after he was sprung...

Kelly called Arboleda's inflammatory art "totally inappropriate."

"This is all under investigation," Kelly said. "Obviously it could be interpreted as advocating harm. Our lawyers are researching it to determine if there are any violations of law."

Other things Kelly could have spent his time on yesterday: the big Mafia bust, the guy who died in the Bronx heroin raid, or the deputy NYPD chief who just got hit with illegal steroid charges.

Or, you know, pretend art.

[NYDN; pic via NYP]

1.): Artist: Bobo's art gallery in Philadelphia
Art/Excuse for Raid: An installation of an office overflowing with (fake) money. Eight Secret Service men showed up, bearing files, thick with photocopies from each of the artist's myspace pages, and told them to put their hands in the air. Then they took the whole fake-money display away.

2.) Artist: Michael McDonald
Art/Excuse for Raid: cardboard cutout of Bush with a knife through it. The California artist puts his art in his front yard all the time. One day in 2007, he put out a cardboard cutout of President Bush with a knife stuck through it. Secret Service paid him a visit! Best quote? "They said, 'You've got a knife sitting in the head of the president of the United States,'" McDonald said. "I said, 'No, I got a knife in a piece of cardboard.'"

3.) Artist: Al Brandtner of Chicago
Art/Excuse for Raid: Stamp art! In 2005, Brandtner made a fake postage stamp with a gun pointing at President Bush's head (pictured); the caption read "Patriot Act." Secret Service raided the exhibit, titled "Axis of Evil, the Secret History of Sin." Man, these guys have no sense of humor.

4.) Artist: Jeremy Lassen
Art/Excuse for Raid: As the artist explains in his Livejournal:

"In response to [the above 2005 postage-stamp] incident, I created a series of collages, entitled "Bush and Guns". I "remixed" pictures of Bush (from the AP Photo wire) and guns (randomly found on Flickr)... I posted these new images to Flickr. I also urged others to create "Bush and guns" artwork, and post it online, as a sort of protest against actions and policies, that, to my mind, have a chilling effect on people's first amendment rights.

On June 7th, Two Secret Service agents showed up at my place of employment and asked to speak with me. One agent said they wanted to talk about something I posted online. I asked what, he one responded "You post a lot of stuff online, don't you?" and then showed me some color printouts of my "Bush and Guns" pictures."

The Assassination of Hillary Clinton

The Assassination Of Barack Obama

[via City Room and Animal NY]

[Toxel.com]

DreamHandlers
Submit a photo of your favorite art handler to Art Handlers of the Year! It’s a calender featuring twelve of everyone’s favorite art handlers of New York City. The calender will come out this summer, just in time for that busy fall season. Here are the guidelines:

-You can submit a photo of any person who is or has worked as an art handler, preparator, exhibitions coordinator, or installer recently. This also includes those of you on the trucks working for the shippers.

-You can submit a photo of yourself.

-You cannot be naked, thanks.

-You will only appear in the calender if you approve it.

-Submissions must be in by August 1st.

-Please include information about the person appearing in the photo, like their name and where they work.

-The photos will be narrowed down to a smaller number, and then there will be a vote to pick the lucky twelve.

There are something like 700 galleries in Chelsea alone. That means at least 700 art handlers. Please forward this to your favorite art handler or their gallery/company.

SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO

dkupfers@gmail.com

SUBJECT: DREAMHANDLERS

Wait, "exhibitions coordinators" are allowed? Are they really that hot? At least they'll be balanced out by the random truck drivers whose only connection to the art world is that they... drive art around. And maybe help unload it. Whatever, as long as they're ripped.

It's somehow comforting to know that, even in the avant-garde world of Chelsea art galleries, there's still an underlying fascination with flesh-baring protocelebrities. May you find your Julia Allison, art gays. And MAY WE ALL.

[Art Fag City]

[via LAT]

[File Magazine via BoingBoing]