26 Facts You Didn’t Know About Banksy

One of the world’s most entertaining and controversial artists of the day is the mysterious street artist known as Banksy. He’s renowned for blasting his creations on walls, and has gained international fame. He’s sort of like a modern day rapscallion, a devil-may-care rogue who dances to his own beat. Perhaps only a few know his secret identity, but as of yet, nothing concrete has emerged to the public. So, let’s check out some interesting facts about the artist Banksy.

1. Some say his real name is Robin Gunningham, hence the references to him as ‘Robin Hood’.
2. He reportedly was a player on a Mexican revolutionaries’ soccer team.
3. His works continuously rise in value.
4. In 2007, Banksy had a live elephant, painted pink in his ‘Barely Legal’ exhibition in Los Angeles.
5. He’ll sometimes duplicate other artists’ works using unusual materials.
6. He once created a series of fake bank notes with the late Princess Diana’s picture on them instead of that of Queen Elizabeth.
7. He once painted on a wall on the Palestinian side of the West Bank.
8. Banksy describes himself as a ‘Quality Vandal’.
9. In 2006, he painted an image of a naked man clinging to the windowsill on a wall of a public family planning clinic.
10. In 2001, Banksy published a book called, ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall‘.
11. A year later, he published his second book called ‘Existencilism’.
12. Banksy has a print company called ‘Pictures on Walls‘, which is funded by Gorillaz’ co-creator, Jamie Hewlett.
13. He reportedly hauled in over $1.8 million at auction from an artistic collaboration with Damien Hirst.
14. Banksy often edits his own paintings.
15. He is known mostly for using stencils.
16. He is the designer to Blur’s ‘Think Tank’.
17. He snagged an Oscar nomination for this 2010 documentary entitled, ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop‘.
18. In 2010, Banksy actually did work on the opening credits on a Simpsons episode called ‘MoneyBart‘.
19. Banksy was a member of the graffiti guerrilla gang, Dry Bread Z Crew in Bristol.
20. Many of his works can be found in his self published book, ‘Wall and Piece‘.
21. Some people have tried to auction the very structured walls his artwork appears on.
22. Banksy reportedly told his mother his job was being a house painter.
23. His charitable contributions go mainly to charities that help in the research of diseases of the eye and the restoration of sight to the blind.
24. He actually has a manager, and he used to work for Sean Penn.
25. In order to install his ‘Bansky vs. Bristol City Museum’ show at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, he reportedly asked the price of 1 million pounds.
26. Protests emerged regarding this “Turf Wars” show. He’s an animal rights activist and no one understands why the protests were waged against him.