Banksy “Uncovered”

Here we go again … another round of bandwagonesque media coverage on Banksy as yet another news source goes to press with a story revealing the identity of the mysterious British street art superstar. The esteemed American weekly news magazine Time reported on the story Monday this week. The Times of London, the BBC, Telegraph and the Independent have all recently reported on the Banksy identity story. This time around the media frenzy started when UK newspaper the Mail on Sunday ran a story a couple of weeks ago reporting Banksy’s real name, Robin Gunningham. The article was published with a photo of a 34-year-old man the paper says is Banksy in Jamaica. There have been previously published pictures and reports purporting to have unmasked Banksy. There’s little clear-cut corroborating evidence in the Mail story, but the paper appears to have gone to great lengths and expense to do some real digging. Its claims have the ring of truth. That Time magazine and so many large reputable new sources are running the story suggests that the Mail is right — Robin Gunningham is indeed Banksy. Still, we’re not 100% convinced.
(Banksy’s work is featured on Global Graphica via the Flickr photo pool of Banksy in the homepage sidebar and on this page. Check it.) Thanks to Jess for the tippage and linkage.