<![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked? - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked? - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I was walking down Stanton and encountered a homeless man. "Aren't you the Fisher King"? I asked. "Why yes" he replied.

and all this time I thought Jeff Bridges was the Fisher King.

lucidether

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> But seriously - that beret is a deal breaker for me. If that's Banksy - I'm sending back the wall.

Lazy Susan

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Multiphasic:
@Jill7:
@Zorica:
No! I am Banksy!

Lazy Susan

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @smithhimself: The idea that Banksy is a collective of sorts because he's hard to get in touch with/get answers from is a tad silly.

He is still an active graffiti writer. There's not much more to it than that.

Millionaire or not, he still engages in unlawful activity. Most, if not all, graffiti writers are very secretive with their identity simply because they don't want to go to jail, no? Why should it be different for him?

Lukie

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> My publishing group handles Banksy's books and they've all made back their advances. We proposed a book project to "his people" last year and the whole thing was a nightmare. Impossible to get an answer.

Banksy uses other people when he does his street projects. My feeling was -- it's a collective for tagging activity with a mutual division of royalties for those images used in publication. Don't know about the gallery work.

Banksy has always felt like a corporation to me. In contrast, an editor friend of mine handles an author who wants to remain secret. The guy really is a recluse with some kind of physical problem. When you're truly strange -- you stay that way. When you're Banksy -- you make money as fast as you can.

smithhimself

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Lalalalalalalalala I can't hear you.

Ya know, this would be AWESOME as an Eighties bitchfight, like Alexis vs Stranjah, etc

raincoaster

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Multiphasic: How does ANYBODY know what Stephen Hawking thinks? All his nurse needs to do is programme his voicebox to say, for example, "I love you and wish to leave my wife for you"..et voila.

Banksy claims that his real name is Robin Banks. Way to pun, guy.

fishwife

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I think I stopped caring about Banksy too long ago to care what he looks like.

DigitalVersicolor

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Zorica:

<computer voice>

Yes.

</computer voice>

Multiphasic

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Someone in L.A. who is connected told me that Banksy's real name was Robin and that Banksy/Robin has a managerial team of publicists that dwarfs the average Hollywood celebrity.

RevHalofan

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Lalalalala can't hear you!

raincoaster

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Multiphasic: Are you Banksy?

I really like this being a mystery. There's no answer to this question that is as exciting as not knowing.

Zorica

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @PickleTitsTurner: foucault? sorry, no. that would have been barthes.

horacio

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> a stencil artist? but only brushes go with berets!

oblomova

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Banksy is actually the Mullet Guy from Brooklyn. In the daylight hours he hides himself Cafe Grumpy, but at night he comes out to leave his million-dollar paintings on the wall. Kind of like a cross between Robin Hood and Dracula, with Billy Ray Cyrus' hairdo.
There: mystery solved.

famousauthor

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> My word, what's this? MY name, coming out of Gawker HQ, without any snark, lies, derogatory references and/or pejorative innuendoes? And with a hyperlink, no less?

Wow, Mr. Nolan. How are you feeling? Are you okay?

Cuz I woulda thought for sure that sorta shit might give you a fucking HERNIA or something.

chickenjungle

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Multiphasic: Yeah, reminds me of the climatic scene in Ghostbusters when Bill Murray says, "If someone asks you if you are a god, Ray, you say yes!"

MaelstromInTheMiddle

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> From studying both these guys as artist for a while now, while their style and form is very similar, there is definetly a difference.

That is not to say it can't be one person and purposely draw in different styles under each name just to mess with people, but I wouldn't think that is the case here.

As a street artist myself, I know that there is a form of jealousy as well as pride in your work and style. If someone asked you if you are someone you are not just because they assume you are by the way you stencil, you would get offended and say "yeah, its me" because honestly, if the person asking can't recognize how different you are from Banksy, then you don't deserve to know who I am anyway.

sdizzy

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @UnreliableNarrator:

Very good point.

I like the potential irony of Banksy actually being corporation. One with amazing branding, at that.

SnowblindX

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @SnowblindX: That makes sense. But the guerrilla stuff still indirectly generates income by nature of advertising the Banksy "brand" thus increasing print/gallery sales. After all, it's been the "free to consumer" graffiti stencils, not the high-priced gallery/website stuff, that's generated most of the praise and publicity.

I imagine the guerrilla-producing "Banksys" would want to be compensated with some proportion of income from the gallery/website-producing "Banksys." And, as Eurodad alluded, disputes over how to divide up the increasingly filthy amounts of money seem to be something that would arise naturally and likely lead to lawsuits, as big influxes of wealth tends to do.

Of course, maybe that's why Nick Walker, if he is one of the "Banksy" artists, has been trying to forge out on his own rather than trying to deal with the split-payout politics of a "Banksy corporate entity."

UnreliableNarrator

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> right now M. Night Shamalamadingdonga is trying to option this story, 'cuz he just loves the twist...

EuroDad

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Am I Spartacus?

Jill7

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Fine, but who is this "Savings and Loansy" who keeps placing no money down mortgage flyers in my mailbox?

lawyergay

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> If someone asked me if I was Banksy, of course I'd tell them yes. And then tell them not to tell anyone. And then tell everyone else I knew I was Banksy, and not to tell anyone. And then deny all of it vehemently in Artforum.

Then probably write a letter indicting my behavior and sign it, "Banksy." Then, just for the hell of it, steal a computerized wheelchair and spend a couple days being Stephen Hawking.

In short, maybe it's best that no one ask me if I'm Banksy.

Multiphasic

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @tomford: You’re right—it is Barthes. This is the second time I’ve noticed that mix-up in this forum.

It’s as though the correct attribution doesn’t matter to people liable to drop the names or ideas casually.

Perhaps it shouldn’t matter. After all, truth is nothing but a by-product of discourse, and, in any event, the author is dead.

iplaudius

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Wait. Banksy's white?

jacksonwhole

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @UnreliableNarrator:

The outdoor and other guerrilla stuff doesn't bring in any money. The print stuff seems to be sold through a very limited number of channels (a gallery and an online print store?). Either of those could easily pay proceeds to a corporate entity. Once the money is in there, divide it up like any other company.

SnowblindX

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @UnreliableNarrator:

Exactly

SnowblindX

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @EuroDad: That's a good point, and I don't know enough about how one finances illegal guerrilla art and merchandising/printmaking thereof to speculate on how profits would be allocated among multiple pseudonymous collaborators.

Did I just invent postmodern accounting?

UnreliableNarrator

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> *once

rightbrain

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> One unmasked, Bloomberg will arrest him for public nuisance.

rightbrain

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @UnreliableNarrator: this theory delights me.

sing_michael_sing

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> maybe this is all just a big joke he is playing on various people. maybe he did tell the waitress to say that, just as a joke. why would a waitress know, and not people close to nick walker? ugggh...

ITTYKNOCKERS

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Einhorn is Finkle! Finkle is Einhorn!

j.blo

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @UnreliableNarrator:

the only thing that leaves me unsettled on the collaboration thing is that i can't believe there wouldn't have been some sort of legal dispute by now regarding the division of assets/income.

EuroDad

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> *absolutely are the SAME person.

Sorry, I tend to have a lot of typos when I'm being pretentious & overly theoretical.

UnreliableNarrator

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I know two people who claimed to have worked with Banksy in Europe in the early 2000s. Just asked both about the Bansky/Nick Walker thing. One said they absolutely are the person, other said they absolutely aren't. So either one or both of my friends is full of shit or maybe "Banksy" isn't so much an individual person as a handle used interchangeably by multiple artists. After all, at least some "Banksy" works have been collaborative, so why not allow everyone in on the project to call themselves Banksy while they're doing Banksy-ish work? Or am I just totally overthinking this?

UnreliableNarrator

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> What if Banksy is a collective of two or more persons?

chris_beats

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> if Gwynneth Paltrow can be Africa

i am Banksy

go ahead and prove me wrong

EuroDad

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @tazo: Sterling is deader than art.

DonPardoCalrissian

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Why would the waitress at Thunder Jackson's know Banksy's master PR plan? Why are you believing everything this waitress says? I tell a lot of stories at bars, I bet Nick Walker does too.
Somebody once told me I looked like a cross between Nicole Kidman and Kim Novak, and I responded "That's because I am".

maevemealone

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Banksy has got to be a team of people. If its one guy, at the very least he has a team of people helping him. "His" identity can't be revealed because he is a them.

Duh duh duh.

SnowblindX

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Conbon: @Bell County:
actually, the rumor that i heard (i.e. will start out of boredom at 4:07 today) is that fake nick denton is closer to blakely than we think.

mitchel_stevens

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @DonPardoCalrissian:

Pounds more like.

tazo

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @lowbrown: Thank you for your contribution. You are dead. Idiot.

Jack Ketch

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> After we resolve this, please get started on revealing who Deep Throat is, Hamilton. My eighth grade term paper wants to know.

EleanorRigby

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @PickleTitsTurner: I believe that idea comes from Barthes.

There's definitely no way he would give his identity up by just telling some random person on the street. Walker's probably aware it will get him some extra publicity, or was just too embarrassed/annoyed to explain his real identity.

tomford

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> paul bettany?

worth79

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @hortense: How do you find time to play over here and still hold everything together at Jezebel? Very impressive.

Bell County

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> yeah the corner of Bleeker and Sullivan is such a buzzkiller

businesspearl

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I am banksy. and robert paulson. isn't that the point? no? oh, ok.

hypocriteoath

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Well whoever the guy is, he should probably take care of that awkard neck problem.

Hockeymom

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @PickleTitsTurner: the artworld begs to differ

doxastic

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> meh.

malvones

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> banksy? more like downsy.

lowbrown

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @hortense: Damn, you look good for... 148!

katekate is squared

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> You guys. I am Grandma Moses. I just wanted to let you know before some waitress blew it up in the Times.

But Grandma Moses died in 1961, at the age of 101, you say.

You say.

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Conbon: I agree. At least that post about SM/Nick D seems so.
@Bell County: Also possible.

BeRightBack

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Banksey is obviously Scrooge McDuck. He uses the name when he want to slum it when he doesn't feel like swimming in his vault or going on fantastic adventures with his triplet newphews.

contradicto

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> "While he was outside doing his stencil sombody asked if he was banksy and he said he was."

I somehow don't think, after all these years of secrecy, that Banksy would be so blasé.

katekate is squared

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @mitchel_stevens: @Conbon: I think it's a collaborative project. They're all in on it.

Bell County

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I smell a rat.

Shariahpants

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @mitchel_stevens: Blakeley. That seems to be working for me today.

Maybe Banksy is like a Dread Pirate Roberts thing? Or maybe he's Blakeley?

Conbon

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> so banksy takes a day to figure out.
fake nick denton remains unsolved.

sigh.

mitchel_stevens

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Wait, "stencil artist." Dear god, it's over. I'm going over to Al-Masjid to convert

DonPardoCalrissian

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @PickleTitsTurner: If the author is dead, I have a wall full of stenciled graffiti to sell you.

Nick Douglas

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Yes. I have a friend who works at Brooklyn Industries and she says Nick Walker just bought a solid gold hoodie. He paid in cash with euros.

DonPardoCalrissian

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Whatever, he was great in Chasing Amy.

Hipp

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I'm forgainst it.

nolongerinacubiclestillawhore

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Playing Banksy in the movie: Clint Howard.

[z.about.com]

In Other News...

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> @Bell County: The book or the movie?

In Other News...

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> "Master PR plan" = Announcement of Chase Manhattan's sponsorship of future Banksy works at all 42,000 Chase ATM's in the NYC area.

In Other News...

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Brilliant. He says he's Banksy but in fact he's Thomas Pynchon.

PandoraSpocks

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> I haven't felt this alive since Primary Colors.

Bell County

]]> <![CDATA[Banksy Unmasked?]]> Let's consult Foucualt.

Hm. Interesting. Well, that about does it.

The author is dead. So it doesn't matter who Banksy is or is not.

PickleTitsTurner

]]>