Visitors look at “Smiling Copper” by British artist Banksy, at the Forbidden Art Museum in Barcelona on October 26, 2023.
Photo: Lluis Gene/AFP
- Enigmatic
street artist Banksy revealed his name in an unearthed 2003 BBC Interview. - In the
interview, he is asked if his name is “Robert Banks”, to which he
replies: “It’s Robbie.” - The artist
was in his 20s at the time and was promoting the opening of his “Turf
War” show in east London.
A rare
nugget of information about the famously enigmatic street art superstar Banksy
emerged Tuesday when he gave his first name as “Robbie” in an
unearthed 2003 BBC interview.
In the
interview, one of the few known to exist with the global art phenomenon, he is
asked if his name is “Robert Banks”, to which he replies: “It’s
Robbie.”
His
identity has long been the source of speculation, with some claiming his name
was Robin or Robert Banks.
Banksy
talks about his distinctive stencilling style in the interview, a podcast bonus
part of a series called “The Banksy Story”.
“It’s
quick… I want to get it done and dusted,” he is heard to say of his
work.
The artist
was in his 20s at the time, and was promoting the opening of his “Turf
War” show in east London.
The series
also contains a 2005 interview the artist purportedly gave with US broadcaster
National Public Radio (NPR).
In it, the
host asks: “We assume that you are who you say you are, but how can we be
sure?” The interviewee responds: “Oh, you have no guarantee of that
at all.”
Banksy,
known to hail from Bristol in southwest England, boasts an A-list client list
and has sold his works for tens of millions of pounds at auction since
achieving notoriety in the early 2000s.
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: