Assumptions about Banksy's true identity appear at certain times. Recently, rumors that Banksy's identity was revealed by mistake and that he is a member of a musical group have been on the agenda again in British newspapers.
They even say there are as many myths and legends about the graffiti artist Banksy as there are about Shakespeare.
Of course, this is an exaggeration, but for years, trying to find out who Banksy is.
Last year, the flag of Sotheby's on New Bond Street in London was torn to pieces for days.
The reason was simple, then, exactly three years ago, on the same day, Banksy's "Girl with the Red Balloon" was sold at Sotheby's for £1 million and the piece disintegrated right after the sale.
The lower half of the canvas was torn to shreds by the chopping mechanism hidden in the thick border frame, leaving only the part with a single red balloon on a white background.
The self-destruction of "The Girl with the Red Balloon" stunned the audience, and Banksy shared a video of this moment on his Instagram page with Picasso's quote, "The impulse to destroy is also a creative impulse."
In the note below the video, he explained, “A few years ago, I had secretly placed a paper shredder inside the painting in case it was sold at auction one day.”
In addition, Banksy stated that a few days after the event, he actually aimed to completely disassemble the work, but things did not go well.
The collector, who bought Banksy's work "The Girl with the Red Balloon" for 1 million 100 thousand pounds, made the purchase despite the piece breaking itself into pieces.
Sotheby's announced that the collector decided to purchase the piece because it thinks it has left its mark on art history.
"I was shocked at first, but then I realized that I would have my own art history piece," the unnamed collector reportedly said.
However, at that time, legal experts came out and said that Banksy could be punished for damaging the work after it was sold.
However, Alex Branczik, Sotheby's Head of Contemporary Art Europe, insisted that “Banksy did not destroy the work, he created a new work”.
The name of this new work was “Love is in the Bin”.
Only three years later, this new work was sold for exactly £18.6 million.
Neither the contemporary art world nor Sotheby's nor Banksy expected this much. Now, the rumor that Banksy is actually Robert Del Naja, a member of the British band Massive Attack, is on the agenda once again.
Banksy followers will remember, Steve Lazarides, with whom Banksy worked for many years, also sells Robert Del Naja's artworks.
But this issue was amplified when Goldie, the British band's DJ and producer friend, slipped his tongue as Robert while talking about Banksy on a podcast.
Of course, Robert is not an uncommon name in the UK, but Goldie's affiliation with Massive Attack co-founder Robert Del Naja is well known. Of course, another clue that strengthens this claim is that Banksy's works are often found near Massive Attack performances. Over the past 12 years, more than a dozen murals have also been found in cities where the band has performed. Robert Del Maja also confirmed that he knew Banksy a long time ago and was even friends with him. Of course, it's still a vague conjecture whether Banksy really is the musician Robert Del Naja. As with all other rumors about his true identity, this will likely not be confirmed by Banksy (or Del Naja), but who knows, maybe one day the much-anticipated revelation will come and the much-anticipated truth will come out.