Banksy is the art world’s megastar, accessible to the masses, questioned on its true artistic merit by more discerning aficionados. If you like he produces the equivalent of pop songs, catchy, sometimes with a little depth, quickly dispensable. And so he is now the most recognisable figure in the world of Graffiti and art in general, the small irony being no one knows what he looks like. The press have been desperate to put a face to the name, and he has been pursued harder than the Loch Ness monster ever was. The Daily Mail went one better and put Facebook to name when they dug up the profile for Robin Gunningham, the man they named/accused of being Banksy. Yet still the world isn’t certain, it could be Gunningham, it might not be, we’ll probably never know. The joke here being that Banksy produces his work out in the open, is known to millions of people, yet is still an anonymous face, just a name, and while other names may be thrown at him, there will never be any certainty. He freely operates with art dealers, has made films and in general is none too subtle, while his identity remains secret, he is hardly protecting it. Now many believe the figure in a new YouTube video to be Banksy. A video posted by the artist’s account, Banksyfilm, called ‘Royal Visit’, may star the man himself. May. The video shot at Glastonbury earlier this year depicts a hippy haranguing Prince Charles during his visit to the music festival. The man suggests to the Prince ‘You and Me could re-hempify Britain’, the bemused Royal is then whisked away in a four by four. Now rumours are flooding the papers that the man in the hippy costume is in fact Banksy in slight disguise. The video was also uploaded to Banksy’s personal website, which is the way the artist verifies his works. So it’s certainly by Banksy, but is the man Banksy? Perhaps these days there is little interest, perhaps Banksy’s identity has already been revealed, the truth is we will never really know no matter how hard we try, every sighting or suggestion is overcast with a glaring ‘maybe’, in spite of how close we get, he always has the better of us. Meanwhile Banksy’s work seems to be popping up in unexpected place. The first was on the Simpsons, which again reinstates the joke of the high profile anonymous artist, while another is believed to be on a Torquay hotel. The new mural was discovered a while back and has appeared on the artist’s website, so it is safe to say that it is a Banksy. This means the piece could be worth up to £150,000, though the problem of transporting it would prove a different matter. This addition could prove a real blessing for the hotel, the phone has been constantly ringing after a summer in which many have opted for cheaper holidays, such as self catering vacation rentals.
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China culture
