Banksy is a contemporary British street artist, activist, and film director who, despite his international fame, has maintained an elusive anonymity.
Biographical details relating to Banksy are scarce, but it is believed that the artist was born in Bristol c.1974 and began to operate as a graffiti artist in the city in the 1990s. His work traditionally acts as a form of cultural criticism which uses satirical street art and stencilled works to posit political and social commentary. His art, which mysteriously appears on location, combines graffiti and epigrams and has been featured publicly on streets, walls, and bridges of major cities throughout the world.
Although Banksy no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, his public installation pieces are regularly offered for sale, even if it means removing the wall they were painted on. A small number of Banksy's works are also officially, non-publicly, sold through Pest Control, a handling service acting on behalf of Banksy. Owing to the distinctiveness and desirability of Banksy works it is also important to secure authentication, a service also provided by Pest Control.
Working primarily with stencil-derived designs, Banksy uses printmaking as a means of extending the reach of his subversive visual language beyond public walls and into the commercial art market. Screenprinting is his preferred technique, and his prints present some of his most iconic imagery. His most sought-after editions include Girl with Balloon, Love is in the Air, NOLA, and Kate Moss. These works combine simplified graphic composition with political and social commentary, addressing themes including consumerism, conflict and institutional power.
Banksy’s printmaking is closely tied to concepts of commercialisation and political and social commentary. Despite this anti-establishment positioning, his prints are highly sought after at auction, with rare or early editions achieving record-breaking prices.
Over the years Banksy’s artistic expression has expanded. In 2010 he directed an Oscar-nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop which debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary the following year. In 2017, to recognise 100 years of British government involvement in Palestine, he opened a fully operational art hotel in Bethlehem named The Walled-Off Hotel.
He was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards and, in 2015, opened Dismaland Bemusement Park, a temporary art exhibition that functioned as a theme park and included collaborations with fellow artists.
Perennially audacious and bold, in 2018 Banksy created a new artwork titled Love is in the Bin during a live auction, when the painting Girl with Balloon started to self-shred moments after the hammer came down on its sale for a record price of just over £1million at Sotheby’s London. When it was re-sold, part-shredded and now titled Love is in the Bin, in 2021, an entirely new record was set achieving £18.5 million.
Although Banksy's identity has never been officially confirmed, Robin Gunningham, a Bristol-born artist, is widely believed to be the man behind the pseudonym following years of investigative journalism and academic research.
