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Banksy Gallerist Pooh-poohs Gunningham Theory

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ART FOR SCANDAL'S SAKE Some guy maybe
Is celebrated graffiti artist Banksy a 34-year-old Bristol, England, native named Robin Gunningham? The Daily Mail seems to think so, though Gunningham's parents denied even having a son. Gawker agrees, and has even dug up a second photo of the purported Banksy, which indeed bears some resemblance to the only other known picture of Banksy, taken in Jamaica in 2004. But the director of the gallery that put on Bansky's first-ever show in New York City swears it's not him. "I'm not at liberty to say much, but what I can say is that Gunningham isn't Banksy," Davide Centineo, the director of the Vanina Holasek gallery in Chelsea, tells Radar.

Banksy's paintings in the exhibit all fetched six figures when they were shown in the gallery back in December 2007. Centineo says he "collaborated on curating" the exhibit, but doesn't otherwise represent the artist. Reached for comment, he tells us that "Gunningham's name has been floating around the Internet for a while, but I can tell you it's not correct." Indeed, as Gawker noted, the second alleged photo of Gunningham, which includes his name in the subhead, has been online since 1999.

Centineo could be participating in the smoke-and-mirrors game that has long shrouded Banksy's true identity, but it didn't seem like he was lying. (Another woman who says she was hit on by Banksy in 2007 also tells us that the man in the photo isn't Bansky.) It's also hard to imagine that Gunningham, if he's actually Banksy, would give away so much on Facebook after all the pains he's gone through to keep his identity a secret. Maybe Banksy is actually a collective of artists, as has been theorized? That could explain why some people deny that Gunningham is Banksy; it's possible that the "Banksy" they dealt with wasn't him. Maybe we'll never know! We certainly have no idea. But perhaps it's better that way.

By Neel Shah   07/16/08 12:00 PM
Related: Art Beat, Banksy, Pop Art Mysteries, Robin Gunningham
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