How comes Banksy never gets caught in the act?

pp111

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Looks so me like it is largely done with stencils and sprays. I would think each piece take a LOT of planning, but actually takes very little time to do for real. Could be that he has a high sided van or canvas or something and assistants to help keep things covered. I mean he must do something or his photo would be all over the papers the next day. But then have you ever been out at 4am? Most places are completely dead at that time.
 

VincentHanna

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dowie

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ttaskmaster said:
He has his own online shop(s), retains a legal team, did design work for Blur and Nickelodeon - From that alone, the authorities will clearly know who he is.
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Not necessarily, I mean I'm sure they could perhaps find out if they needed too (if someone were to make a criminal complaint etc..) but there isn't any reason why any "the authorities" necessarily know that person X is Banksy.
 

dowie

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Well yeah that's the speculated (and quite likely) identity in the wikipedia article and reported multiple times in the press - that's different to some vague claim the authorities know who he is...
 

ttaskmaster

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dowie said:
Not necessarily, I mean I'm sure they could perhaps find out if they needed too (if someone were to make a criminal complaint etc..) but there isn't any reason why any "the authorities" necessarily know that person X is Banksy.
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"The authorities" will include HM Revenue & Customs, if nothing else. Dunno about Blur, but Nickelodeon through Viacom, will certainly have a paper trail for any official work like that. Same for anything sold from the shop.
Then, of course, you have Companies House with info on GDP, Pest Control Office Limited and any other such companies.
Plus enforcements of the copyright and trade marks of "the artist, Banksy" will have had to include the artist's real legal name for legal purposes, so unless he has changed his name officially, there will be that.

Someone somewhere in authority will have to know his real name and it's highly likely that his identity, just like that of Andy McNabb and The Stigg, will have been mentioned quietly to friends, who mention it to other friends, who mention it to other friends, etc etc...
What that name is, I don't personally care. But it's nigh-on impossible to remain anonymous with that high a profile these days. He's not the Count of Monte Cristo, or anything.
 

dowie

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ttaskmaster said:
Someone somewhere in authority will have to know his real name and it's highly likely that his identity
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Not necessarily, I mean not in so far as anyone in authority knows that X person is also the artists known as "Banksy".

They might know that X person is associated with a company that is associated with Banksy... assuming they were aware that that company was related to the artists known as Banksy.

But there isn't necessarily anything official linking "Banksy" = person X

In fact for all we know it could be more than one person - for example @NVP mentions one name it is speculated to be, but the companies that the directors mentioned by @VincentHanna above are directors off also provide some different clues - I just took a look myself - one of the companies is owned by another company and that in turn has several shareholders, the largest of which is not the name given by @NVP but rather is a Mr J Hewett - that's perhaps one of the other name's speculate as being Banksy in the media - he's the founder of the group the Gorillas.

In fact for all we know it could be him, the other guy and some other unknowns working as a collective - some of them might have a bigger part to play than others, some might be part of the ownership structure of a ltd company, others might not. Some of the shareholders in the Ltd company might have nothing to do with the actual creation of the art itself.

Bottom line though no one in "the authorities" necessarily knows for sure who "Banksy" or whether he/she is more than one person is just because some Ltd company exists etc..
 

ttaskmaster

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dowie said:
Not necessarily, I mean not in so far as anyone in authority knows that X person is also the artists known as "Banksy".
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"Certain images used on this website are reproduced with the express permission of the artist, Banksy. Copyright is retained by the artist and images must not be reproduced without the express written permission of the artist of Pest Control Office Limited".
From Ts & Cs on Banksy's own website, GDP.

Thing is that he, or even they, cannot enforce copyrights and trade marks without proving who he/they really are:
"What is also noteworthy in this case is that Pest Control has decided not to enforce Banksy’s copyright. Such a decision doesn’t come as a surprise though, as it would require Pest Control to show judges that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. But this would entail the disclosure of Banksy’s real name, which the artist obviously doesn’t want to reveal as it would remove the aura of mystery surrounding him, and consequently reduce the value of his art"

https://theconversation.com/banksy-...despite-saying-copyright-is-for-losers-112390
https://ipcloseup.com/2019/05/07/co...ays-street-artist-banksy-some-trademarks-not/
https://qz.com/quartzy/1726408/banksys-trademark-dispute-with-full-colour-black-could-backfire/

In addition, Banksy himself will have to have an income from somewhere and with a Banksy shop as well as books published by an external publisher, and works that sell for as much as half a million quid, I bet the tax man will have the whole thing under a microscope.
Plus there'll be things like the Animal Services licence to exhibit that elephant, and any other run-ins with the law.

But certainly someone from some authority or other, for some reason or other, will have had to know who the guy really is.
If I cared to really know, I might look to the European IPO records or something...

But just ask Banksy himself - "Maintaining anonymity can be kind of crippling. I gave a painting to my favorite pub to settle a tab once, which they hung above the bar. So many people came in asking questions about it I haven’t been back there for two years. In retrospect getting your work in the newspapers is a really dumb thing to do if what you do requires a certain level of anonymity. I was a bit slow there. Brad Pitt told a journalist ‘I think it’s really cool no one knows who he is’ and within a week there were journalists from the Daily Mail at the door of my dealer’s dad’s chip shop asking if he knew where they could find me"...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/14/banksy-was-here

And you honestly think no-one in authority would know who he is?
Conceivable, but highly, highly unlikely.
 

dowie

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No I’m saying you don’t know that “the authorities” know who he is. That copyright issue for example you’ve highlighted.

There isn’t any reason to suggest that any particular person among “the authorities” knows who he is and so far you’ve not given a clear explanation of who might and why?
 

Fluke?

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Whatever the case I think its pretty cool that he/she/they/it is still an enigma for 99% of the population and even for those in the know it doesn't seem to be an absolute given that it's this Robin chap.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/new-study-claims-banksy-not-4022

I've always thought the same about a load of magic tricks. Given we're in the information age with knowledge literally at our fingertips, magic still has the power to entertain and be mysterious. Maybe just be googlefoo is crap but whenever I actually search for something like "how does david blaine levitate" the results always seem a bit.. naff.

Will be a sad day indeed when we don't have some mystery in the world.
 
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